March 25

Car ends up below building after dramatic crash on Roosevelt

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A dramatic two-car crash closed Roosevelt Way Northeast and brought news helicopters and police and fire units to Maple Leaf shortly before 10:30 this morning.

One SUV ended up in the ditch almost under this building at Roosevelt and Northeast 91st Street.

Thirteen emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene at 10:18 a.m., and another one a minute later.

No serious injuries were reported, although ambulances were at the scene. Buses on Roosevelt were rerouted to stops south of Northeast 80th Street.

A neighbor emailed to say: “Nice pedestrian almost hit, missed him by about a foot.”

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Sara W

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  1. According to Sam we’ve got to curb these “wide bottomed SUV’s” and whould all drive “sensibly sized cars”. Do you vote too Sam? Let’s jamwad another gazillion people into an already over-crowded area and all try and get along, without bumping into each other. Let’s not give mayor McSchwinn any more vehicular gihad ideas here OK.

  2. I agree with a lot of these posters about Roosevelt. I often use it because 15th NE is still blocked off because of that darn bridge construction. And it’s the closest north-south arterial west of Lake City Way. I also use it because it morphs directly into 15th NE at about 110th +/-. I haven’t noticed cars parking too close to corners, but I have experienced it being really difficult to turn left onto NE 92nd to go west as well. Seattle DOT, are you reading these blogs & comments?

  3. Everyone knows the answer, paint red no parking lines long enough by the cross streets to give people a clear sight path before pulling out. I have to think whenever they finally open 15th again the alleviation of some of the traffic flow will help too.

    But, there’s only so much you can do, sometimes the driver is truly at fault. My house was hit by a car last month (further east on 90th) when a driver failed to yield at an intersection and was hit and sent flying into my yard. The yield sign was obvious and she hit the intersection way too fast. Lots of damage to my yard and both cars, just luckily her 3 kids neither driver weren’t hurt.

  4. Disclaimer: I’m a non-driver.
    I’m hoping that the powers that be make on-street parking illegal on more of our narrow-but-busy streets. Or even just more blocks of those streets.
    I also agree with the idea of making the no-parking areas by corners a lot longer. And maybe some *enforcement* of those areas.

  5. Bottom line sometimes accidents happen, according to one other commenter this is the second accident in two years and if the other accident was indeed caused by a squirrel then that one is purely driver incompetence. That leaves one real accident in recent memory, is that really enough to declare this a chronic problem?

    Now Sven I’d normally take you side on this but Ted wants us to stop using oil and I support him in that. Not sure where he’s getting his numbers from but according to him we are going to run out of fuel in a couple years which sounds to me like the problem will solve itself. So I’d like to do my part by using as much oil as possible so we run out sooner. If we’d all drive more we could be done with oil in a year or so. I know those numbers don’t line up with ones all those pesky scientists use but I’ll go with Ted numbers on this.

  6. Ted, are fucking kidding here? Raping the land? Next thing you’ll throw out the crying Indian picture.

    The car crashed because we all know Subaru drivers SUCK.

  7. Actually, speed traps aren’t the answer. Neither are cars parked further away from an intersection. We are running out of oil. We, the human population, have been raping the land for many decades now, and we are on our last few years’ supply. I too have used up fuel in shameful amounts in the ten years or so that I have been driving. Please, walk or bike or take public transportation whenever you can. In a few short years, maybe a decade, using petroleum-based fuels for transportation will be out of the question.

  8. That’s my bldng they crashed into…holy cow! I’m not at all suprised either……
    I agree with the above comments. In the 7 months I’ve lived here I’ve rerouted my drive home, used to think it was quicker to avoid driving Roosevelt and making left turn at 91st, after coming up 5th/8th and finding myself sitting for several mins. waiting to cross, pulling out practically into the oncoming traffice to see and YES, waiting for all three, car, bike and foot traffic, I’m back to driving up Roosevelt.
    Yes, we need a solution.

  9. Great discussion. I totally agree with several issues (mentioned above) that merit more attention and/or enforcement.

    Cars are allowed to park waaaaay too close to intersections. While we need current law enforced, I think the current distance from intersection needs to be changed – even when cars are parked legally, it is still not enough in order to see who is coming from either direction.

    Stopping, then pulling forward to make the left or right turn on Roosevelt is a problem. I am regularly faced with either attempting to make a safe turn or blocking pedestrians. Not cool either way.

    People drive much too fast on Roosevelt. We need speed traps in the core business area between the reservoir and 94th.

    Let’s keep the pressure on and have some of these issues addressed at the next Community Meeting!

  10. I completely agree with the posts above. It is a huge challenge turning onto Roosevelt because of how close the parked cars are to the side streets. I’m nervous every time, especially with little kids in the back seat. Makes me think I should avoid it all-together and just go to 15th!

    So glad that noone was hurt today.

  11. @KC: re “what’s up with having thirteen vehicles respond to this accident?”
    I haven’t asked the fire department specifically about this, but my informed guess is that when you get reports of a two-car crash w/injuries, and one car into a commercial building, you send the Seventh Fleet. In case there are 70 people in a classroom on the other side of the wall.

  12. $7 a gallon gas, 20mph through the business district and/or pedestrian overpasses and segregated bike paths. Till then crossing Roosevelt is a nightmare. I live on 8th and if my destination is on the east side of Roosevelt I drive!

  13. I stop at the sign, then I pull forward, which is what you are supposed to do. At times a pedestrian comes along before I have had a chance to turn. Given how long it takes to make a turn, that’s just how it works sometimes. The problem is how FAR you have to pull out to see. Once you’re out that far, you have already stopped (back at the sign). At that point you can go at any time so long as there is no traffic (pedestrian, bike or auto).

    A new problem is trying to not block the bike lane as you pull out.

  14. I totally agree with the above posters — turning onto Roosevelt, you simply cannot see oncoming traffic until you have inched practically into the roadway, because of the parked vehicles. That was the first thing I thought of this morning when I saw this post about the accident: ah, someone lost the turning-onto-Roosevelt lottery.

  15. KC, drivers overshoot the stop signs because they can’t see beyond the parked cars at the intersections on Roosevelt. The human visual field can’t physically accomodate seeing oncoming traffic in the reality of the structural set-up of parked cars on Roosevelt.

  16. The majority of drivers turning on to Roosevelt and 15th overshoot the stop signs by a few feet, then they really never come to a full stop before turning. As a dog walker in the mornings, I am constantly having to cross behind vehicles. BTW, what’s up with having thirteen vehicles respond to this accident? Only in NE Seattle…..

  17. Yes, the parking situation on Roosevelt is unsafe. Cars are allowed way to close too the intersections, which makes for semi-blind entry into a busy street. Anyone know how to organize such an effort to reduce parking near the intersections?

  18. The main problem is letting people park so close to the corners on Roosevelt. Even the beginning of the legal parking area, which is hardly ever obeyed, is too close to these side street corners. It makes it impossible to see cars coming up and down the hill on Roosevelt without pulling almost completely out into the intersection. Maybe it would work if people drove sensibly sized cars instead of Wide bottomed SUVs.

    Slowing down is one answer. Making people park further away from the corner is another.

    As for walking down 8th, it is nicer, but all the places I walk to get to are on Roosevelt.

  19. It was a horrific looking sight and a wonder there weren’t critical injuries.

    It was good to see the immediate and caring response of the local residents and businesses.

    Should note: speed wasn’t necessarily the issue here. It appears to be a failure to stop at the side street (91st) before heading out onto Roosevelt. But it is difficult to merge onto Roosevelt when cars are whizzing past doing 30+mph…..

  20. Another indicator that there needs to be some way of enforcing the 30 MPH speed limit on Roosevelt. The SPD is fond of placing a speed trap in 1st Ave across from N’gate (and, admittedly, people do fly down that street as well), but 1st Ave across from N’gate doesn’t get the pedestrian traffic that Roosevelt does. Can’t say I love speed traps, but I do find that they are a deterrent to excessive speeding. One of those digital speed signs that tell you how fast you’re going would work too.

  21. People just need slow down through there.

    I’m glad their were no serious injuries.

    I do prefer to walk up and down 8th, it’s not so busy, and it’s quieter.

  22. This is the second bad accident at NE 91st and Roosevelt in as many years. The first, a driver swerved to avoid a squirrel and barreled into a car and fence. Then today, I heard one of the cars failed to stop before attempting to merge onto Roosevelt from 91st. The pedestrian on the sidewalk who was nearly hit by the SUV was visibly shaken.
    If you’re a Maple Leaf walker, use sidewalks on 8th and 12th as opposed to Roosevelt.

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