NEWS: Navigating the mean streets of Seattle can be deadly

By HECTOR CASTRO AND VANESSA HO, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, December 3, 2004

The car waiting to turn right onto Third Avenue in downtown Seattle waited patiently as Catherine Hall, silver cane in hand, made her way slowly across the street yesterday afternoon.

But Hall, a 14-year resident of Seattle, has had her share of close calls with less patient motorists, some honking for her to walk more quickly, or trucks whizzing past her when she failed to cross before the light changed.

A pedestrian crosses the street in downtown Seattle on Pine Street. The Mean Streets 2004 report found that walking remains the most dangerous mode of transportation per mile in the nation.

"I don't know why these drivers are in such a hurry," said Hall, who uses a cane because of a bad knee. "They're just so inconsiderate."

Hall's experience is not unique.

The Mean Streets 2004 report by the Environmental Working Group and Surface Transportation Policy Project found that walking remains the most dangerous mode of transportation per mile in the nation, ahead of public transportation, driving or flying.

Locally, the region encompassing Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton ranked 40th out of a list of 50 most dangerous metropolitan areas in the country when it comes to pedestrian deaths.

"Pedestrian safety historically has meant getting out of the way," said Hank Dittmar, executive director of the policy project, in a news release issued with the report yesterday. "We need to switch our priorities. People first, cars second."

For the report, analysts with the two non-profit groups studied data from the Federal Highway Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The authors found that nationally, 51,989 pedestrians were killed between 1994 and the end of 2003. The number of deaths declined in that period, but the report points out that rates of walking also declined.

Locally, pedestrian deaths in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton region climbed from 45 in 2002 to 55 last year. Of those in 2003, 10 occurred in the city of Seattle, where so far this year eight pedestrians have been killed, according to Seattle police.

Michelle Ernst, lead author of the study, said that while the Seattle metropolitan area had a low ranking in terms of pedestrian danger, its relatively high rate of pedestrian deaths in relation to all traffic deaths causes concern.

The 77 pedestrian deaths statewide last year accounted for 11.7 percent of all traffic deaths. In Seattle, the percentage is even higher, with pedestrians making up 18.5 percent of traffic fatalities.

"I think the issue in Seattle is that while the ranking overall may be very good, there is still a problem that needs to be addressed," Ernst said. "(Washington state) needs to pay closer attention to the pedestrian safety problem."

City officials in Seattle said pedestrian safety remains a concern and that measures have been taken in recent years to improve the situation.

Patrice Gillespie Smith, chief of staff for the city Department of Transportation, praised the study for raising awareness, but noted that Seattle was ranked No. 1 for the lowest pedestrian fatality rate per capita in a national study by the federal government last year.

Even so, she said, Mayor Greg Nickels has been committed to pedestrian safety through a series of road and traffic improvements and proposals for increased funding for sidewalks.

"We believe any fatality is too many as far as pedestrians go," Gillespie Smith said.

She said the city has changed traffic signs in school zones from a dull yellow to neon green in recent years. It is improving crosswalks, and in some cases, removing them for safety reasons, she said.

It has launched its "Don't block the box" campaign that discourages drivers from blocking an intersection.

"There's two sides to the equation. Driver awareness is just as important as pedestrian awareness," she said. "Perhaps as this region grows, there's going to be more conflicts between automobiles and people."

City Councilman Richard Conlin noted many of the same improvements, but added that funding continues to be a problem, something the Mean Streets study also suggested.

"We've had less opportunity to be flexible," Conlin said. "We'd love to see the federal government doing more."

The city, he said, considers as its highest priority ensuring the safety of pedestrian walkways near schools.

But some students said even getting close to school has its hazards.

In Queen Anne, three 12-year-old students from McClure Middle School at a bus stop said the danger of a pedestrian-vehicle accident is ever-present.

"I almost got hit the other day. I was, like, walking and doing my own business and this car zoomed past a red light right in front of me," said Sarah Troyer, who, like her friends, takes a Metro bus to school every day.

But students aren't the only ones at risk. In Washington state, seniors were at the greatest risk of being struck, accounting for 26 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, although they make up just 12 percent of the state's population.

"It is dangerous," Hall said. "The streets are dangerous."

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