Last week, the Seattle Department of Transportation quietly released a map showing the location of every vehicle-caused pedestrian fatality in the city from 2005 to 2010.
According to the map, there were five fatal pedestrian collisions in southeast Seattle during that time span, and four occurred on Rainier Avenue South between Mt. Baker and Rainier Beach.
From Publicola editor and Rainier Valley neighbor Erica C. Barnett:
As I’ve written before, Rainier Ave. is a pedestrian nightmare, a five-lane arterial where drivers speed along at 50 mph and where stoplights are as far as a mile apart. MLK, in contrast, has more stop lights, fewer lanes, and frequent pedestrian crossings, especially at light rail stations.
According to the PI.com, Rainier is the most dangerous street in the city, with 61 reported car-pedestrian collisions between 2002 and 2006. The intersection of Rainier and 39th Ave. S. tied a several-block-long stretch of Aurora for the most jaywalking incidents (six) in the city. Read more.
The locations of fatal southeast Seattle pedestrian collisions from 2005 to 2010. Find the full city map here. Map courtesy of SDOT.
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{ 32 comments }
Where is there a mile in between stop lights on Rainier?
Maybe between Seward Park Ave. So. going to Renton?
Erica is a bit of an alarmist and loose with the facts based on her publicola articles. Not to say Rainier isn’t dangerous.
I’m surprised that there were only 5 deaths in 5 years. I see people dodging traffic all the time. I guess southenders are good runners.
my best friend in high school was killed on Rainier Ave by the Wildwood Lane back in 1974. Pretty heartbreaking! I work on Rainier and I see more people jaywalking everyday! The way that people drive on this road is incredibly fast just like it is the freeway.
Road Diet time. Rainier is a *%$#ing nightmare. Too fast, too many lanes, not enough crosswalks, and too many little old Asian ladies slowly jaywalking.
@3 So nothing has changed since her days at the Stranger, eh?
Jaywalkers are THE problem on Rainier Ave. S. and cars speeding up at intersections trying to beat the red light.
Maybe at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, but it’s rare to see any cars speeding at 50 mph on a given day because of the steady traffic congestion on Rainier Ave.
I don’t think Erica has a drivers license or knows how to drive. Always giving the Rainier Valley a bad rap, stay in the Northend puhleeze!
SDOT is the ultimate roadblock to making our streets safer in Seattle.
“Road Diet time. Rainier is a *%$#ing nightmare. Too fast, too many lanes, not enough crosswalks, and too many little old Asian ladies slowly jaywalking.”
Way to go in reducing the jaywalking demographic to an inaccurate ethnic stereotype! Is it preferable if the jaywalker is a hulking, younger,nimble white or black male?
I think a lot of the jaywalking I see on Rainier (Rainier and Holden) is people that hit the crosswalk button while the bus is still down at Rainier and Henderson and still does not change until the bus is already to Rainier and Holden. It should not take 3- 5 minutes for the light to change like you are waiting for the light rail to pass.
‘Anon’ said: “SDOT is the ultimate roadblock to making our streets safer in Seattle.”
From experience, I share Anon’s opinion of SDOT. Residents at 39th S & Rainier S. have asked, pleaded, and begged for a stoplight at this busy intersection for 16 years. There is rumor we may get a signal light here after years of neglect by SDOT. (The death of a pedestrian in a hit & run accident here several years ago didn’t cause a ripple at SDOT. They were unmoved.)
Safety is less a priority than liability over at SDOT. SDOT removed crosswalks at key pedestrian-heavy locations along Rainier Avenue South to improve traffice flow, i.e., increase speeds and accomodate more cars. This was due to the light rail construction that was clogging MLK and diverting more traffic volume to Rainier. Over the objection of neighbors, SDOT put stripes along 39th S., a residential street, in order to encourage traffic to short-cut through a residential neighborhood. Insane? Absolutely! SDOT never returned to remove their ‘improvements’ to Rainier after light rail began operating. SDOT never restored the crosswalks . Since then, Rainier has become increasingly unsafe.
While Seattle claims to have a mission to increase pedestrian safety, the irony is, SDOT is doing the exact opposite. SDOT claims crosswalks convey a false sense of security to pedestrians. According to SDOT, crosswalks encourage pedestrians to cross, thereby putting the pedestrians at risk AND increasing liability for the city. In fact, people are crossing the street anyway. What’s the alternative? Not cross when you MUST cross? SDOT’s logic is not merely flawed, their reasoning is approaching insanity. No matter. SDOT proclaims loudly they have studies to back up their ‘improvements’.
I have news for SDOT, when driving, I slow when I see a painted crosswalk on the street. I respect pedestrians, as do the majority of citizens with a Driver’s License. When there is no painted sidewalk, I don’t bother to slow down.
Rainier Avenue South did not become the most dangerous arterial in the city until AFTER all the ‘improvements’ by SDOT about five or six years ago. The so-called improvements are precisely what made Rainier Avenue so very dangerous.
No doubt SDOT is scrambling, looking for another ‘expert’ on traffic safety. Certainly, there must be some new guru of traffic psychology that can rescue SDOT, and provide a magic solution to the increasing safety issues? For starters, SDOT should ignore the latest theory from the latest ‘expert’ on traffic management and utilize some basic common sense. ANY crosswalk is safer than NO crosswalk. Duh.
Oh, and try listening to the residents that live here. There’s a lot of cumulative wisdom among the residents.
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The SDOT map linked to this article is NOT accurate.
1) The hit & run death noted above is not identified on the map. The man who died was from Kent. The accident occurred at 39th S. & Rainier S. (the 5200 block of Rainier S). The man was struck while crossing and impaled in the windshield of the car. The driver continued for several blocks, then pulled over in Columbia City. The driver pulled the critically injured man from the windshield and dumped him on the side of Rainier Avenue where he died from his injuries.
2) There were multiple deaths at 57th S. & Rainier S. when a BMW convertible traveling at high speed skidded out of control, flipped, and struck a utility pole. I believe all passengers were killed.
(To SDOT: Please amend your map!)
I like the new lighted crosswalk in downtown Renton that has flashing lights built into the walk to indicate that somebody is using it. I’m not sure if that would make sense on a faster road like Rainier, but it does improve the visibility.
Stakeholder, you are my new favorite commenter ever. I completely agree about the idiocy of removing crosswalks. What is SDOT thinking!?!? And you are right that it is due to liability, not safety.
#12 – item 2 was not a pedestrian accident. It was a single-car accident that only affected those inside the car. Careless people acting stupidly.
I drive this road everyday and if people did not walk across the street in dark clothes and not even looking if there are cars coming. I swear once a week I have to swerve out of the way to miss dumb people that even will walk all their kids acros s the street and just expect people will see them and stop.
@ Stakeholder:
As for drivers going slow(er) if they see a pedestrian at a marked cross walk: I’m pretty sure you’re the exception, unfortunately. I cross Rainier Ave twice a day down in the area by Rainier Ave & Norfolk and out of 20 cars, maybe 1 slows down or stops. I’ve had it happen multiple times that the car that’s the closest to the cross walk stops (which is nice), only to have one of the cars behind it swerve out into the parking lane honking, trying to pass. At a marked and well lit cross walk! I’ve resorted to never count on cars to stop but only to cross when there’s an opening in traffic. Which is kind of sad imo.
Marked crosswalks throughout the city and county (W. Seattle, Belltown, Shoreline, Federal Way, Kent) and not just Rainier Ave. are hazardous to your health. Don’t expect any car to stop. Use patience and wait until traffic clears to get to the other side of the street alive.
SDOT is experimenting with colored flags on sticks for pedestrians at the more lethal crosswalks. Not sure if it will help with folks texting and still talking on cell phones in their cars.
“SDOT is experimenting with colored flags on sticks for pedestrians at the more lethal crosswalks.”
You know the flags will not be there for more than 8 1/2 minutes.
I would love to see the occupants of the SDOT “Think tank”
The cost of the neon colored flags on sticks is insane! SDOT uses a cheap band aid approach if they are contacted by citizens.
@stakeholder
Stand on the corner of Letitia and Rainier (across from the Safeway.) See how many drivers fly through the red lights as fearful pedestrians use the crosswalk to cross Rainier. You may slow for crosswalks, but the three times in my life that I’ve come closest to dying have been in well marked crosswalks in different parts of Seattle.
A crosswalk is still better than no crosswalk.
I see drivers and pedestrians at fault. Too many people are talking on their cell phones and texting while doing 45 on Rainier. I also think there’s an underground rule where if you are over 60 or under 21 it’s ok to dart out in streets and make drivers stop for you.
@luigia
You need to get some variety in your near death experiences.
Mine would be
1. Shot in the head – age 16
2. Went out the window at 70MPH – age 22
3. Hit speed bump that was just put in on my bike flew 30 feet and hit my head on steel bumper of truck – age 7 0r 8 (I actually remember seeing myself on the ground with people standing around me, so that was probably my closest)
@9 Well yeah, they get out of my way much faster.
Zing!
I live right by 39th and Rainier. The new crosswalk is almost done; looks like it’ll have electronic buttons to get people to stop. Sometimes, during light traffic hours, I jaywalk there. Other times I cross at the light at Hudson. The biggest safety hazard for pedestrian me is people running the red light at Hudson. Zooming through a yellow is one thing and we’ve all done it ; flat-out running the red at 35-40mph is scary and dangerous.
That little one-block stretch of 39th is back to one-way now that the road construction is finished, and it’s just like last year: only about 50% of the drivers seem to notice the three (large and prominent) road signs noting that it’s one-way. S’ok, y’all can keep on turning around in the driveway as long as you’ll please stop running the red lights!
@ 6, 25 & 26: I thought readers of a blog covering the most diverse zip code in the country would be less likely to poke fun at a particular minority group to make a point.
Oh, get over yourself.
While I did not poke fun at anyone (just acknowledged the wit) I would think the more diversity you have the MORE likely someone is going to “poke fun” at someone / something.
A Preist and a Rabbi are sitting on a bench……….
When the Rainier Valley was settled, there was no real control over the platting. That resulted in a highly-irregular & confusing pattern of intersections. The City’s department of transportation has not risen to this challenge. So, we have drivers who don’t seem to realize that there is a legal (though unmarked) crosswalk at a particular location, & they fail to yield, though they should.
Drivers fail to follow common sense, & the law, by passing vehicles that are stopped for pedestrians in crosswalks — my experience is the same as Lakeridge Lady’s (#21). Passing a stopped vehicle to its right, at an intersection, is hazardous. When I first studying for my driver’s license, the booklet told us that passing under those circumstances was illegal.
Too many pedestrians jaywalk — no question. Too many pedestrians wear dark clothing at night. Too many drivers speed. The City has set the traffic lights in a way that encourages speeding & running of yellow & red lights. Perhaps the best (worst?) example is the light at Letitia, which seemingly is set to stop traffic from running smoothly, an unnecessary frustration. Set the lights so that traffic can flow right along at 35 m.p.h. (as it does on Second Ave., downtown), & some of our problems would disappear.
The City’s notion that crosswalks are dangerous is irrational. True , the City can produce statistics that show that more pedestrians are hit in marked crosswalks. Statistics will also show that pedestrians wearing shoes are more likely to be hit. The safest way (by the City’s logic) to cross the street would be to somersault, not an an intersection, while nude. Or maybe to call a cab?
The City is not taking pedestrian safety seriously along Rainier Avenue, & never has — at least not in my 40-plus years of experience. New thinking is needed downtown.
Walk, Bike, Ride.
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