Tow Truck pulls car out of Elliot Bay after it was run off the road Sunday by a driver traveling close to 100 mph according to reports (photo courtesy: West Seattle Blog)
Just days after another devastating high-speed crash Seattle City leaders are adding to the list of dangerous street racing areas.
“Ads four additional streets to the list of designated Restricted Racing Zones” Analyst Calvin Chow read the new locations during a meeting of the City Transportation Committee “these are Seaview Avenue NW, 3rd Avenue NW, MLK Jr Way South and Rainier Avenue South.”
This brings the total to 10 stretches of roadway now considered the worst of the worst in Seattle.
“Designated Racing area’s give SDOT (Seattle Department of Transportation) the authority for automated speed enforcement” Traffic cameras says Councilmember Lisa Herbold.
Residents across Seattle have been complaining about loud, reckless and dangerous driving for years, “In the last two months long this stretch of road, a speeding car has knocked down a light pole, two parked cars were totaled” Jodi Albright lives in West Seattle where a high-speed crash on Alki Avenue Sunday left a woman with life threatening injuries.
Detective Judinna Gulpan tells the West Seattle Blog “The driver was driving at a high rate of speed and the impact actually caused the victims vehicle to be pushed into the water” into Elliot Bay.
State law now allows for the expanded the use of traffic cameras “I don’t understand why over and over again” but councilmember Tammy Morales believes safer road designs need to be part of the solution “The department (SDOT) chooses to delay safety projects in places where people are dying.”
Speeding and Street Racing have plagued Seattle for years “The drag racing is so intense you can hear (it) a couple of miles away” says Herbold who represents West Seattle.
But law enforcement crackdowns aren’t working and traffic cameras seem like a distant reality, analyst Calvin Chow “Actual implementation of camera deployment does require future budget action” which means more meetings, more approvals and more time-consuming government red-tape.
But the “Restricted Racing Zone” designation does provide some help; it’s a green light of sorts in government speak that allows the plan to take its next step “We’re hoping that will speed the final implementation” says councilmember Herbold.
Here’s the complete list of Restricted Racing Zones:
- Alki Avenue SW between 63rd Ave SW & Harbor Ave SW
- Harbor Ave SW between Alki Ave SW & SW Spokane St
- West Marginal Way SW between SW Spokane St & 2nd Ave SW
- Sand Point Way NE between 38th Ave NE & NE 95th St
- NE 65th St between Sand Point Way NE & Magnuson Park
- Roadways inside Magnuson Park including, but not limited to, NE 65th St & Lake Shore Dr NE
- Seaview Ave NW between Golden Gardens Park & 34th Ave NW
- 3rd Ave NW between Leary Way NW & N 145th St
- Martin Luther King Jr Way S. between S Massachusetts St & S. Henderson St
- Rainier Ave S. from S. Jackson St, South to the city limits
