After the November 14th hit-and- run on NE 55th, the RBCA board asked the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to come to our December 2013 board meeting to discuss traffic speed and volumes, as well as pedestrian crossings, along NE 55th.
SDOT has agreed to conduct a speed and traffic volume evaluation along NE 55th sometime in January 2014. Should 85% or more of the vehicles travel more than 5-7 mph over the 30 mph limit, traffic calming measures *might* be installed (such as speed cushions). A trailer with a speed radar sign will be on NE 55th at some point its January, as well, so that drivers’ can be conscious of exactly how fast they do travel up and down this corridor.
In addition to the traffic volume and speed, the City will also be looking at the number of pedestrians that cross NE 55th on a daily basis, especially at 27th NE and 30th NE. Should the numbers warrant it, crosswalks might be installed there, but SDOT warned us that crosswalks provide s false sense of security for pedestrians and are not always useful in preventing the kind of incident that happened to our neighbor in November. Regardless, pulling the parking back from the corners at 27th and 30th seems likely.
Check back on our website (or follow us on Facebook or Twitter) for the results from the traffic study.
“In addition to the traffic volume and speed, the City will also be looking at the number of pedestrians that cross NE 55th on a daily basis, especially at 27th NE and 30th NE. Should the numbers warrant it, crosswalks might be installed there, but SDOT warned us that crosswalks provide s false sense of security for pedestrians and are not always useful in preventing the kind of incident that happened to our neighbor in November.”
Can SDOT please stop making this ridiculous excuse for not installing good pedestrian crossings.
Why can’t Seattle lead the US to join most of the rest of first world by putting button activated stop lights at pedestrian crossing rather than expecting cars to yield the right of way which every study shows only a small fraction actually do? It is inherently dangerous having traffic laws that everyone disregards,