DaveS sent us pictures of a car that flipped on its side on a sidewalk strip on 2nd Avenue NW and NW 70th Street around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
He said police on the scene told him the driver was okay.
Thanks for the pictures, DaveS!
A news blog for Seattle's Phinney Ridge and Greenwood neighborhoods
that is a suprisingly terrible intersection.
The ‘Tweet by Beat’ entry:
SeattlePD Boy 3 @SeattlePDB3
Beat:B3, ACC – WITH INJURIES (INCLUDES HIT AND RUN) at NW 70 ST / 2 AV NW reported on 10/24/2012 5:59 PM
Then 2.5 hours later:
Beat:B3, PARKING VIOLATION (EXCEPT ABANDONED VEHICLES) at NW 70 ST / 2 AV NW reported on 10/24/2012 8:30 PM
What happened? Speeding, drinking or carelessness?
Yes, I wondered that, too. I am glad the driver is OK and that nobody was on the sidewalk at that moment to be hit, but I doubt the car flipped over all by itself without warning…?
It was probably careless speed-drinking.
Maybe its a Ford Explorer?
The speeds cars drive on residential streets are:
Too damn fast.
Prediction: many many new 4 way stops will be coming to our city.
Driver distracted while texting and holding lap dog?
Maybe the reason for the accident was cars parked too close to the intersection, blocking the sightlines necessary to safely enter and exit the crossing. It only gets worse on a steep hill, especialy with those mini-roundabouts. A 4-way stop is safer. Hypothetical question – at a mini traffic circle who has the right of way? Is it the car who has already started to go around or is it always the car coming from the right? The law ofr intersections says “from the right”. The law for rotaries says “yield to cars already in the roundabout”. Unless everyone agrees on the answer there will be problems and backups leading to accidents.
This is at the intersection of two streets with 25mph speed limits. It’s pretty hard to flip a car at 25mph.
One problem is that many drivers seem to think that if they are on the slightly wider cross street, they have the right of way if there are no stop signs. “Yield to the right” makes sense except if someone’s already in the intersection, roundabout or no. But “yield” or even “slow down at an intersection even if there’s no stop or yield sign and take a look while pausing” is not in the vocabulary of many drivers, alas…it’s incumbent upon the driver, even if there *are* cars parked too closely, to realize that sightlines are blocked and to compensate for this. In short, driving carefully!
And you’re right, if the driver were doing the proper speed limit, they would’ve at most bumped over the curb, not flipped. People barrel down the hills and along the side streets, especially at rush hour, at ridiculous speeds here and fly through the intersections.
All too often I see drivers breeze right through intersections, no matter who should have the right of way. Stop signs pretty much work, but as my dad used to say: “A stop sign is NOT a brick wall, don’t assume the other driver is always going to stop”.
Heck, anymore you can’t even trust red lights to stop someone. I’m just glad I wasn’t on the road at the same time as the driver of the car that flipped.
Stop signs increase engine noise for those living at intersections so don’t look for them to be popular. Traffic circles are a better answer.
And how fast was this bozo going to flip a car?
Just re-read the police beat listing. So this was a hit-and-run? That makes more sense. We had a car hit at our intersection once and it ended up on its side the same way.
There are many families with children in the neighborhood, and we always see young parents walking with toddlers and babies in strollers.
Unless truly effective measures are taken ASAP, tragedy is inevitable.
Slow down, people! Do you really want to kill someone just to get somewhere two seconds faster, or because you think it’s “cooler” and more “hip” to go too fast?
I missed witnessing this accident by mere seconds, though I did hear it happen from just around the corner. Consistent with the report of a hit and run, there was the definite sound of a car fleeing the scene. Kudos to the several people who were around to call 911 and help the driver. Hopefully someone was able to get a description of the other car. I find a hit-and-run to be particularly upsetting.
This is the third accident in less than a year that I have seen within a block of that intersection. All were at intersections without traffic circles.
I am one of those neighbors frequently walking with a dog and/or my child in a stroller in this area. I agree with Caroline . . . it is only a matter of time before something really tragic happens.
Is there a police report? Is there a description of the other vehicle?