Monday Tuesday morning while driving my kids to daycare, I saw the remnants of yet another accident. Wallyhood reader Stephanie also witnessed the aftermath. She writes:
I was hoping you could do a story on the accident that happened this morning (around 8am) on the corner of 39th and Wallingford. Looked like one person was going to the hospital and another car actually ended up on the sidewalk (thankfully it didn’t look like anyone was on the sidewalk at the time). Would love to know what happened because I feel like there are always horns blowing on that corner (and I swear 5 cars do a u-turn daily) and it seems pretty dangerous (especially given the other intersections on Wallingford that seem to be having similar issues per prior posts).
Kyle Moore, Public Information Officer for the Seattle Fire Department, only had limited information about this collision: “Ladder 9 responded this morning at 7:51 a.m. for a report of an auto accident with a patient who is bleeding. We arrived on scene. The dispatch report does not indicate if we treated or transported a patient.” I have a call in to Seattle Police Department, but I haven’t heard back at this time. I will update the post if I get anything else.
I wonder if the commenters on the previous post were on to something when they said that visibility is poor when turning onto Wallingford Ave N from a side street because of the many cars parked on Wallingford. That and an increase in traffic should give us all the more reason to drive safely in our neighborhood. Let’s hope we don’t have to post about another accident soon.
Photo by Wallyhood reader Stephanie
Update: Kyle Moore talked to the fire crew and says the following: “My crew called me back. It was a 4 car accident with one 24 year old male driver with a head wound. Firefighter backboarded and collared the patient and AMR ambulance transported him to the hospital in stable condition.”
I’ll see if I can get more details from SPD. A four car accident seems pretty bad for a neighborhood street.
Yes, the visibility from any side street when turning on to Wallingford Avenue, is a circumstance which guarantees further collisions.
The scarcity of parking in the are, results in cars parked too close to the corner, regardless of the law/rule that parking is not allowed 33 feet (I think) from he corner.
I hope the person is ok, but a collision like this is a very traumatic event. I am sorry this happened.
Seattle’s street parking code is based on measurement, 20 feet from the sidewalk, 5 feet from the flare of a drive way, etc. When I talk to people who are in the act of parking contrary to code, they always tell me the curb is not painted. There must be places where curb paint or the absence of paint defines where it is OK to park.
No parking signs on the corner of our street really helped. People don’t park close to the corner anymore. I wonder if speed bumps were ever considered on Wallingford Ave. I contacted transportation department about speeding by 34th and Meridian (corner by gasworks) but no changes happend yet.
That’s especially scary given the kids walking to school at that time.
Driving through almost every neighborhood is anxiety-producing. Cars are being built to go faster (so in general we do), but our arterials are not designed for pulling out onto a road where someone’s traveling at 30mph. Add to it that some of us are in a hurry and you have more and more scenes like the above. Then tack on mobile phone distractions, and… phew!
Outlaw the cars in our neighbordhood! Forced biking!!
For me the parking arrangements in Wallingford are too informal – without specific lines and signs people will park where they think they’ll get away with it. It’s difficult in a compact neighborhood like ours, but sometimes parking is beyond inconsiderate and closer to dangerous. I go eastbound through 43rd on to Latona almost every day and that really is a bad one for visibility…potentially quite dangerous.
A 4-car collision on Stone Way is never an “accident”. It means at least one, if not all four, drivers were driving negligently fast, following the person ahead too closely, or just not focusing on the task at hand (driving).
Collisions should not be reported in this way in any forum, and I’m disappointed that SFD referred to this incident as an “accident”. While this may seem nitpicky, it’s indicative of how quickly we discount any possible responsibility of the drivers when cars are involved.
This is a somewhat natural thing to do, as people make mistakes, and almost everyone who writes these stories drives a lot, and would like to preemptively discount their own responsibility, should they hit someone. But, instantly calling all collisions “accidents” handcuffs us when we’d like to hold someone driving irresponsibly accountable
It also makes it difficult to effect change when poor street design creates a situation where responsible drivers are confronted with non-obvious risks, which often results in someone else paying the price.
I agree with Jeff in #7. I always creap out slowly if I cannot see and I hope cars are not flying by. When I am in the other position of driving down wallingford, I expect cars to creap out and not get crazy if they do cause me to slow down!
I bike down Wallingford on my commute a few days a week. Even though it’s so tempting to fly down the hill fast, I make myself go slow and keep my hands on the brakes. At every intersection, I imagine an unseen car pulling out in front of my bike unexpectedly.
Re: Raven’s comment — I think that painted curbs to keep cars from parking too close to corners would go a long way towards helping the situation. (And relatively low cost to the city, right?)
Wallingford Ave N is bad, but there is also an intersection just north of Murphy’s (46th and Meridian, I think), where it is very, very difficult to pull out from the side street and see traffic well enough on the main street to safely make a left-hand turn and go North on Meridian. I can’t believe there aren’t frequent accidents there as well.
46th and Meridian is indeed a difficult one. It could benefit from a sign restricting parking for 30′ back from the SE corner.
“Bicycles Rule” is apparently unaware that there are elderly and/or disabled people living in Wallingford.
I have the same issue when turning right on 40th and 45th. It’s especially challenging when a large van or truck is parked to the left. I’m fearful that the ‘inch out,’ method won’t always work in my favor, especially with the low visibility of bicycles in the aforementioned scenario.
Not all u-turns are illegal, at least from the information I was able to find. As long as the turn can be made safely without interfering with other traffic and as long as you’re not turning at the crest of a hill where traffic coming the other direction can’t see you, I believe they are legal. I make u-turns on Wallingford all the time. I’d prefer to do a safe u-turn that drive around the block and not be able to see trying to pull out onto Wallingford.
Whether it is or isn’t legal, I’ll take “completely safe but technically illegal” over “legal but somewhat risky” any day.
The main counterargument is that nobody will expect the unusual illegal thing from you, so, y’know, make sure it’s really safe…
The accident happened on Tuesday and only 2 cars were involved.
#15 Idrove past there pretty soon after and it was definately 4 cars. In addition to one car on the pavement and a car in the land right next to it there were 2 cars further North with big dents in their sides. One on each side of the street.
If you look at the picture you can see 3 of the cars, the man pointing is standing next to one of the cars with the dents.