A 19 year old Japanese exchange student was hit in a crosswalk at 163rd and Meridian at 6:28pm on Monday evening.
The driver is a 60 year old Seattle resident. Police report that alcohol, drugs, and speed were not factors in the accident. It was very dark and raining at the time of the accident and residents report that visibility is poor in that area in spite of the lighted crosswalk.
The UW student, who lives with a Shoreline host family, was transported to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.
Detectives with MARR (Major Accident Response and Reconstruction) responded and are investigating the accident.
Meridian Ave N was shut down at N 163 St until 9:45pm.
A different pedestrian died in this same crosswalk in late November of 2003. I repeat: late November. The driver in that case was alcohol-impaired, but that seemed to be of lesser importance than the fact that the pedestrian simply wasn't visible in poor conditions.
ReplyDeleteThis location would be a good candidate for installing flashing LEDs in the roadway. Parked cars on either side of the road obscure pedestrians attempting to cross, and pedestrians inexplicably walk after sunset wearing dark clothing - despite the substantial risk.
An infrastructure improvement would hopefully avoid future incidents here. It would be counterproductive to do anything drastic like changing speed limits, etc.