After a couple from the neighborhood were struck by a car recently at Stone Way and 41st (Young Couple Injured in Stone Way Pedestrian Collision), the Wallingford Community Council contacted SDOT regarding the safety of the intersection. Lee Raaen, president of the council, forwarded this reply they received:
Dear Stone Way Community:
Thank you for your note about pedestrian safety on Stone Way N at N 41st Street. It is very helpful to receive observations like yours from community members who see how our streets are working every day.
We have reviewed the intersection and will be making the following improvements:
- “No parking” signs will be installed on the approaches to the crosswalk to improve visibility.
- Stop bars will be placed in advance of the intersection’s marked crosswalk for northbound and southbound traffic.
- At the stop bars, “stop here for pedestrians” signs will be installed.
- Worn portions of the marked crosswalk will be remarked.
The work is scheduled to be completed, weather allowing, by the end of February.
We have also received a request from neighbors for a pedestrian-activated traffic signal at this intersection. Our review of this request will be completed by April, at which time we will share our findings with you.
You may be interested to know how traffic engineers evaluate the need for a traffic signal. They study a given location for volumes of traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian), the physical features of that particular location, reported collision history, what opportunities there are for pedestrians to cross in traffic, and delays to traffic. Using standards that have been developed by the Federal Highway Administration, traffic engineers then determine whether or not that location meets the established criteria that would permit consideration of a traffic signal.
If you have questions or need additional information regarding our signal review process, contact Valerie Lee in our Traffic Signals Group at (206) 684-5246 or [email protected].
If you have additional thoughts or need other information in general regarding this intersection or other locations, please feel welcome to contact me directly at (206) 684-5727 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Mike Morris-Lent
Traffic Operations Engineer
Seattle Department of Transportation
I think those improvements will help, but they also need more/better lighting. One of those signs hanging across the intersection that says CROSSWALK with flashing lights.
Very prompt and helpful reaction of the Dpt of Transport!
Dear Neighbors, Mayor Murray, and SDOT
In May 2005, my son Dominick May-Douglass was critically injured with a head injury at the crosswalk at Stoneway and 41st. I pleaded for a pedestrian-activated light. In October 2013, a UW PhD student was hit in this crosswalk. Reports indicate she suffered injured arm and head. Then in January 2014, a young couple was hit in this crosswalk. Reports say that both suffered head injuries.
I understand that here were at least three pedestrians, bicyclists, and a youth on a scooter at the crosswalk at Stoneway and 41st Street prior to to 2005.
The Seattle Police have been conducting “sting” operations at this crosswalk since 2009. The Seattle 911 Police Blog reported issuing up to at least 32 tickets an hour for “failure to yield to a pedestrian”. This crosswalk is a “school-designated” crosswalk and links directly to the 41st Street pedestrian bridge over Aurora (SR 99). This is a direct route between home and school for students from BF Day Elementary School and Hamilton Middle School.
If lifelong injuries at a crosswalk are any indication of the need for a traffic light, the crosswalk at Stoneway and 41st has more than met any criteria that SDOT should consider. They need to put a light here immediately before anyone else is hurt. The human cost of failing to put a light at Stoneway and 41st Street is already heartbreaking and unconscionable. Too little and too late, but not too late to save the next child or adult.
Here is a link to the “Contact the Mayor’s Office”. Many of us have already written and they have been in contact with me over the last two weeks. If you would take a few minutes and write the Mayor your thoughts on this crosswalk, I would be most grateful.
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/contact-the-mayor
Dear Neighbors and Mayor Murray, I pray that no one else ever have to go through what my son and others are going through because of bodily and head injuries suffered at this dangerous crosswalk.
Sincerely,
Desiree Douglass
HeadStrong
360-220-1422
[email protected]
Zac, please give my best to Ashley and Zach. If you ever want to talk, please feel free to call me. You are an awesome friend.
I am curious why more in-ground systems are not in use in Seattle. I would love to see one of these at the intersection of 41st and Stone (and 38th and Stone!).
http://www.lightguardsystems.com
I would imagine that they are cheaper than stringing an overhead stoplight, and the ones I have seen are super bright and really call attention to the crosswalk/pedestrian.
When trying to cross a major street close to a stoplight I always go a bit out of my way to use the light. There is a light at 40th only a block away from the intersection of the accident. At T-intersections like 41st people should be especially careful and assume that drivers don’t see them. That is not victim blaming, just the simple fact that in a car vs. pedestrian collision it is obvious who will be injured.
That’s a great alternative but pedestrians really shouldn’t HAVE to go out of there way to walk across a marked crosswalk, especially when it’s a child. Drivers need to pay more attention and follow the rules of the road.