16 Replies to "Update: Pedestrian hit, not badly hurt; California/Lander reopened"

• Carrie Ann February 9, 2010 (3:40 pm)

  I pulled up to get my daughter from school @ Lafayette not too long after it’d happened. There was a firetruck, aid car, police car and eventually a motorcycle cop to help Marvin, the awesome school crossing guard, direct traffic. I was told it was a middle school student who was crossing California by Lander, and was struck in the crosswalk, by a woman driving a van. It appeared she only clipped the girl, so I really she’s OK and makes a quick recovery. I also hope the woman who hit her (who looked to be in her 60s, mayyybe early 70s) is OK, since I always feel for the people–depending on the circumstances–who were driving the vehicle. Not sure if it was a matter of the girl crossing at the last minute, sun getting in someone’s eyes, poor driving, or what. But it’s all clear now, aid and police vehicles are completely gone.

  • WSB February 9, 2010 (3:50 pm)

    Thanks, Carrie Ann!

• Todd February 9, 2010 (4:03 pm)

  I came through here as the ambulance was pulling up. Glad this does not appear to be too serious.

  In general, I feel West Seattle is just too congested these days. As a result of too many people living within a few square miles, there have been a lot of car accidents (4 or 5 last week), pedestrian accidents and deaths, breakins, robberies, etc, etc.. All of these appear to be increasing as the population increases despite the economic downturn. Of course all have been profiled on the WSB if there are any doubts of the instances.

• samson February 9, 2010 (4:04 pm)

  oh no, hope this child is alright. whew! i am glad she is still alive and hope kids do understand to be careful watching cars!! Just curious!! was the bus parked and the city bus driver was resting?

• cjboffoli February 9, 2010 (4:58 pm)

  Todd: I doubt you could fairly correlate a rise in density with crime. I’ve lived in much more densely settled cities (like NYC) that have not devolved into chaos and lawlessness because of a high number of residents per square mile.
  .
  I cover quite a few motor vehicle accidents for the WSB and more often they are a result of things like excessive speed, failure to obey signs and rules of the road, driver distraction, intoxication, etc. I’ve never heard the SPD cite density as the problem.
  .
  It seems to me that if we did more to build our communities to reduce our reliance on cars not only would we make much better use of available space but we’d have fewer accidents. Funny how you don’t see stories in the WSB of bicycles colliding with each other or pedestrians bumping into one another.

• A Lynn February 9, 2010 (5:30 pm)

  Thank you Carrie Ann for your nicely written report. I too feel for the girl, her family and the driver. I was picking my children up from school at Lafayette. I discovered that the driver is a friend of mine and a dear woman with a huge heart. She did not see the girl at first as she was taking a left from Lander to than head south on California. When she saw her it was too late and pulled over immediately to see if she was Ok. The girl was taken to the hospital with her father continuing to gather information and than to join her. My friend is so very sorry and I am sure, very shaken up this evening. Your thoughts and prayers for them both would be appreciated.

• Tuc Ulo February 9, 2010 (6:20 pm)

  Todd: You are a fine example of what is wrong with West Seattle: FEAR. Fear of people coming to “your neighborhood”, fear of change, fear of everything. This was an accident. The world is not coming to an end because West Seattle is so over populated. Calm down.

• José February 9, 2010 (6:21 pm)

  Don’t know the girl who was hit so obviously this isn’t necessarily about her, but some of the kids who attend that HS are little idiots…I was at that light a few days ago when two HS girls stepped right out in front of my vehicle when I had the green, and was about to proceed through the intersection. They saw the light change and even glanced in my direction, but it was as if they were daring me to hit them. Parents should hang around that intersection and watch when school gets out; it’ll be an education for you in how these kids are acting. Take the time.

• Ms Evelyn February 9, 2010 (7:02 pm)

  Jose is right. I have seen more of the High School kids do some of the most arrogantly stupid moves and the younger kids being the “MOST STREET SMART” around here.

  I hope that everyone involved in this today is okay.
  Remember everyone “Stop, Look & Listen”.

• Ken February 9, 2010 (7:22 pm)

  I saw the accident. I am pretty sure I had the same problem the driver did in that the sun was low but shining directly in the eyes of drivers making the turn at that time (and me sitting in the first parking spot past the land use sign. The pedestrian started from the SW corner which was in deep shade. I was looking right at the intersection, listening to an audio book, and I did not even see the pedestrian until after the accident.

  The van seemed to be moving too fast for the area, but that is nothing new. The stupidity of both pedestrians and drivers in that intersection was almost illustrated by an oblivious drivers car that was nearly backed into by the cop with full flashing light bar trying to clear the intersection. Commuters use the corner as a cut through to avoid the Cali-Admiral intersection.

  I am there every day and see parents teaching bad habits to their children several time per day. Yes the high schoolers think they are indestructible and pay little or no attention to the light. We were all that indestructible once but some may have forgotten it.

  I am going to have to cease stopping for kids and adults at the unmarked crosswalks since not a single one on Hanford (and Belvedere) will ever look the other way. They smile and wave and blithely walk out in front of the cars coming the other way who cannot see them for the glare of the morning sun.

  For pedestrians “I had the right of way” should be coupled with caution lest it become just the slogan on a tombstone.

• Ms Evelyn February 9, 2010 (8:43 pm)

  Very well said Ken…

• rico February 9, 2010 (10:31 pm)

  Ken stated above

  “I am going to have to cease stopping for kids and adults at the unmarked crosswalks since not a single one on Hanford (and Belvedere) will ever look the other way. They smile and wave and blithely walk out in front of the cars coming the other way who cannot see them for the glare of the morning sun.

  For pedestrians “I had the right of way” should be coupled with caution lest it become just the slogan on a tombstone.”

  Hey Ken good buddy, decent neighborly protocol and WSB rules do not allow me to properly respond to your post, but we all “get” you and feel fortunate to have you as our neighbor. We appreciate your good neighborly word of caution to watch out for *&*hole drivers who have no regard for basic law. Thanks for the tip of the day.

  Of course pedestrians should be careful when crossing, obviously. In most cases you refer to the pedestrians have no choice but to eventually make a move to get across the street, otherwise wait for a long time. Because many drivers are not letting them cross the street as required by law.

  Let it be known that I drive to work every day and will always stop for anyone I see trying to cross the street. It is unfortunate many of our neighbors do not share the same trait.

  See you tomorrow at 3:15 good neighbor. I will be the dad walking home with my kids from Lafayette, hopefully safely, but you never know I do have to cross 4 unmarked intersections plus the marked one where there was the unfortunate accident today. Risky business, maybe I should just drive.

  Hopefully the girl will be OK.

• austin February 9, 2010 (10:59 pm)

  Yes, very well said Ken. Hopefully one day soon we’ll be reading about one of the kids or adults you’ve run down in a crosswalk because you can’t be bothered to slow down or stop in your arrogant need to win the race.

• rw February 10, 2010 (6:38 am)

  I’m surprised no one has commented on how absurdly long it seems to take for that light to change to allow cars and pedestrians to cross California. I get frustrated whether I am a pedestrian or in a car waiting to make that turn. And the light is so brief that if there is a pedestrian in the crossing, only two cars can make the turn before the light changes and you have to wait another five minutes for your next green.

  I don’t know who was at fault in this accident, but I do think that unresponsive lights lead to frustration, which leads to unsafe behavior, both by pedestrians and cars.

• I. Ponder February 10, 2010 (10:37 am)

  Time to start keeping a score sheet on car crashes and pedestrians hit by cars in our community. Something is wrong.

• Todd February 11, 2010 (4:22 pm)

  Tuc Ulo – You read a lot into what I said about density. Just stating what I believe to be a fact (population is increasing in West Seattle). Perhaps you need to calm down? I don’t see what I said that could have led you to believe I was hostile or upset about anything. But that is the beauty (sarcasm) of comments on blogs – words are so easily misinterpreted because they are void of voice inflection, body language, etc. Because of this, I tend to shy away from commenting even though I have been a WSB reader since early 2005. You may have meant a different feeling but your comment felt like you were trying to beat me down or that you felt defensive. If you are new here, you are welcome here, as everyone is. I welcomed Christopher here on this blog a couple of years ago and praised his work several times off and on over the years. It’s a free country. West Seattle is experiencing growing pains in my (and many other residents) opinion. In my opinion the more people, the more chances there are for accidents to happen, as well as crime, etc. Yes Christopher, I have lived in big cities too :)

  The only thing I said about the accident was “I came through here as the ambulance was pulling up. Glad this does not appear to be too serious.”

  After that I said “in general.” In general does not refer to anything specific, i.e. the accident.

Sorry, comment time is over.