Below is a snippet of the City of Seattle’s Motion for Summary Judgment, arguing that its design of the protected bike lane, transit island, and pedestrian crosswalk (only a few yards north of the main crosswalk) had nothing to do with my client’s collision. In fact, the City blames my client, the pedestrian, for not walking precisely on the painted lines of the marked crosswalk. The City argues, this imprecise footing of the pedestrian, is “jaywalking” and is the reason why the bicyclist crashed into her.

In Seattle, pedestrians are generally expected to follow traffic signals and use designated crosswalks when available like intersections with lights or stop signs. Crossing the street at a location OTHER than a marked or unmarked crosswalk is generally considered jaywalking. However, Seattle has implemented a policy called “Pedestrian First” that prioritizes safety. This policy requires vehicles to give the pedestrian right of way at all intersection, marked or unmarked, regardless of whether there is a traffic control device.

In our fair city¹, “Pedestrian First” refers to an initiative in that the Seattle Department of Transportation has undertaken to prioritize pedestrian safety and improve conditions for pedestrians when crossing intersections. SDOT’s stated goal of the Pedestrian First approach is to create a safer and more accessible environment for people of all ages and abilities to walk and move around the city. According to SDOT’s own blog posts and publications, this initiative involves implementing various safety upgrades and changes to traffic signal patterns to enhance pedestrian visibility, increase crossing times, and reduce the likelihood of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.

In an SDOT blog post from July 2020, SDOT announced the completion of their Vision Zero goal to create 250 pedestrian-first intersections six months ahead of schedule. SDOT explains²,

These intersections are designed with a focus on pedestrian safety and have undergone safety upgrades to improve visibility and reduce the risk of accidents*. As a result of these safety upgrades, data showed a 48% reduction in the number of people hit by cars while crossing the street in these pedestrian-first locations. This achievement signifies a significant improvement in pedestrian safety and highlights the effectiveness of the pedestrian-first approach in Seattle.

“We’ve Completed Pedestrian First Crosswalk Safety Goal Six Months Early and Are Advancing a New Policy to Create More Automatic Walk Signals and Give People More Time to Cross the Street.” SDOT Blog, 23 July 2020. (*SDOT’s use of “accidents” goes against National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s admonition against this term because these are not acts of god but rather the result of human error.)

To further enhance pedestrian safety, SDOT introduced a new traffic signal policy. The policy includes small but meaningful changes to traffic signal patterns that aim to strike a balance between efficient traffic flow and pedestrian safety³. The policy sets target and maximum cycle length times for traffic signals based on street type designation. This approach ensures that pedestrians have sufficient time to cross the street safely without causing noticeable delays for motorists⁴.

Significantly, the Pedestrian First initiative in Seattle focused on creating pedestrian-first (surprise, surprise…) intersections and improving safety measures to reduce collisions involving pedestrians. Per SDOT: The term “pedestrian first” specifically refers to this effort and does not encompass all aspects of pedestrian infrastructure or policies in the city.

SDOT has explained that Pedestrian First is intended to prioritize pedestrian safety, create safer intersections, and enhance the overall walking experience in the city.

In a case that we are current litigating, we represent a pedestrian, Angelina Kolomiets, who observed the law and looked both ways (out of habit, she always looks both ways before entering a road) before crossing the bike lane. However, the bus shelter obscured her view as well as the bicyclist’s view. Nonetheless, because the pedestrian walked a few inches south of the painted crosswalk lines, Seattle City Attorney calls this “Jaywalking.” This is the City’s way of attempting to deny that its design of the transit island, crosswalk, and bike lane led to the bicyclist/pedestrian crash. As a result, Ms. Kolomiets sustained serious injuries to her head, brain, face, jaw, teeth, and body.

Guess what? The City engineer admitted at a deposition that the project team never calculated sight distances, though the engineer knew that the tapered (unstraight) bike lane created visibility issues for both bicyclists and pedestrians.

Here is when I asked the SDOT engineer about the late change to the then-new protected bike lane on Roosevelt Way NE in the University District.

The SDOT engineer wants reassurance that I’m not blaming her. Truly, I’m attempting to understand what the main engineer (SDOT project engineer) thought about the potential issues with making the bike lane zig a little to avoid a utility pole:

When I ask the SDOT engineer whether she and the other SDOT engineers made sight distance calculations in this scenario, guess what her response was…

Seattle claimed that Pedestrian First was its plan to prioritize pedestrian safety. Really? Perhaps it’s more focused on prioritizing the Seattle Attorney’s office first? What do you think?

References:

1. The initiative called “Pedestrians First” was first conceived at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). ITDP is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting sustainable and equitable transportation systems globally. ITDP has developed a set of interactive tools that measures walkability in cities around the world, and “Pedestrians First” is one of their initiatives aimed at improving walkability and pedestrian-friendly urban planning.
2. “We’ve Completed Pedestrian First Crosswalk Safety Goal Six Months Early and Are Advancing a New Policy to Create More Automatic Walk Signals and Give People More Time to Cross the Street.” SDOT Blog, 23 July 2020.
3. Id.
4. “Traffic Signal Policy.” SDOT Blog, 29 January 2021.
5. “SDOT creates 250 ‘pedestrian-first’ intersections early.” MyNorthwest, 27 July 2020.

The post When is a pedestrian jaywalking? first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.

Did you know that our cities, towns, counties, and state owe all travelers reasonably safe roads? Why does this matter? It matters! Read on, if you want to learn this powerful rule that is intended to ensure safer roads in Washington State.

When you are injured on the road in a solo crash — riding a bicycle, on a scooter, in a wheelchair, or on foot – what should you do? What are your rights?

Allison, an acquaintance who was new to the city, recently shared details about her horrific scooter crash. Allison was over a mile from her destination and thought she would try out one of a Lime scooter. A super cautious person, she rode the scooter in a protected bike lane. But her first scooter ride resulted in a solo crash where she landed in the hospital for over a week in the ICU. As she told me the story, just a month after her crash, she kept saying, “It’s all my fault.” I was stunned.

“Why do you keep blaming yourself,” I asked Allison, as she shook her head.

“I didn’t know how many bumps and cracks were in that bike lane. And the lane ended really abruptly. Cars to my left had a green arrow to turn right and they didn’t feel the need to look for a scooter rider.”

Based on the events she described, I seriously doubt that the crash was her fault at all.

Whose fault, then? That’s what this blog post is about.

Allison’s assumption about “fault” in a solo crash is a common one. Too often, people beat themselves up and blame themselves for their solo crashes. This is understandable because there’s not an obvious “at-fault party,“ as in the case of a car vs. bike crash or a bike vs. pedestrian crash.

“It’s my fault. I guess I messed up, but I’m not sure how.” I hear it from clients and prospective clients almost every day. That is, they blame themselves until I explain that municipalities in Washington State have a duty to plan, design, construct, and maintain reasonably safe roads.

One client, a seasoned cyclist and one tough cookie (she was formerly in the Air Force) who regularly rides in the STP (Seattle to Portland), was riding a well-known training route on the shoulder of a major road. If you’re familiar at all with the STP route, there are plenty of twists and turns. Well, she wiped out, suffering major and permanent injuries.

Guess what? She recounts the crash and shrugs her shoulder as she points to the scars on her face, “I should have known better.” AAARGH… NO! When she told me the details, I recognized the fact that she was not at fault one iota. When I explained how road design cases work, she had no idea that municipalities have a duty to design, maintain, and warn about the condition of their roads for reasonably safe travel.

It’s pretty clear from how often I have these conversations that this simple concept is not well understood. That is because you’re not going to find a PSA on these like you do about drunk driving or don’t text while you drive.

Never assume a solo crash is your fault. If there is one thing I want you to learn from this blog post, please remember that a flawed road design is not your fault. Why? Because in Washington, we have laws along as legal precedent that firmly establishes that governmental entities have the responsibility to ensure that roads and sidewalks offer people reasonably safe conditions to travel. Washington is one of few states where this is the case.

This brings up the concept of sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity is the idea that you can’t sue the king. Because we don’t have kings (not yet, at least) in our country, the notion that governs many issues is that you can’t sue the government. Generally, there are only a very few and specific conditions under which a person might have standing to sue the government. In recent decades in Washington through a series of cases, municipalities have very little protect from liability specifically regarding road design.

What constitutes reasonably safe travel has a fair amount of gray area. That’s why you should do two things if you are involved in a solo crash:

1. Talk to an attorney about the facts of your crash.
2. Report your crash to the city, county, or state responsible for maintaining the location of your crash.

Reporting is critical, and I’ll explain more about this in part 2 and in other future blog posts.

So, remember: don’t blame yourself if you’ve operated a scooter or bike in a lawful manner, but you get injured. Our cities, counties, and state bear the responsibility to provide all travelers with reasonably safe roads.

The post Can you spot “reasonably safe roads”? first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.

How many more injuries and catastrophic crashes for people on bikes are needed before SDOT finally does something to make S. Jackson safer? At the earliest stages of the First Hill Streetcar project, consultants for the City provided options to make the road safer for people on bikes. Protected bike lanes, physical separation between transit and bikes, and various other options were laid out. SDOT choose not to move forward with any of those recommendations. The result: Countless bike crashes and injuries to people, who took the City of Seattle’s invitation to reduce their carbon footprint and motor vehicle traffic traffic by biking.

Below is the site of crashes when people on bikes are forced to move around stopped traffic in the curb side lane taking the hazardous path in the next lane with the streetcar tracks.

People on bikes, familiar with this path, need to anticipate a sudden third lane after crossing 5th Ave S.

On behalf of injured bicyclists, Fleming Law and co-counsel, CJY Law Firm, and Ramsey Injury Law Firm have filed consolidated claims. Plaintiffs Janet Ball and Eric Boris. While both sustained serious injuries, Janet Ball now has limited use of her legs and continues to struggle with a complex neurological condition arising from her bike crash on S. Jackson.

Fleming Law client Eric Boris sustained injuries, including a broken clavicle, in a similar manner in the same location where Janet Ball crashed on S. Jackson. Because no protection is provided to people on bikes on the major arterial in Chinatown International District (CID), bicyclists are forced to navigate between the shared bike/bus lane and the other lane that contains First Hill streetcar tracks.

The westbound approach on S. Jackson St. towards King St. Station typically includes a line of buses that stretch for at least one city block east of 5th Ave South from 4th Ave. S. past 6th Ave S. SDOT is aware that these streetcar tracks are hazardous to people on bikes and recently developed an informational piece to “educate” folks on how to contend with these dangerous conditions. Below is a version with my redlines of SDOT’s piece. Pray tell, how does one safely ride “through” train tracks?

Below is a copy of the complaint filed on behalf of injured bicyclists Jan Ball, her husband, and Eric Boris.

Check back for updates,

The post SDOT needs to make S. Jackson safer for bicyclists first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.

Seattle software developer was walking to his job, when a driver hit him with their car near the Fremont Bridge. He lost weeks of work and time to enjoy with his family for the entire summer and fall of 2019.

After the injured pedestrian was taken to the hospital, his family contacted Catherine Fleming to represent him. Although prepared to go to trial, the driver’s insurance settled for $490,000. The settlement covered his $34K in medical bills and also compensated him for his pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment with his family. He is fully recovered physically, but will always relive the trauma whenever he walks near the site where he was injured.

The post Confidential pedestrian v. driver – $490,000 first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.

In her mild mannered way, she’s successfully pushed for safer roads, rail and communities. Sure, AOC has a flashier way that grabs people’s attention. Maybe Maria Cantwell is too busy for social media as Chair of the Committee of Science, Commerce and Transportation. (Hey, I caught you snoring.) Not a super sexy topic? It is to me. And Sen. Cantwell holds significant power in her role. Let’s talk more about how she’s helped and, more importantly, how else we want her to help us make our communities safer.

Love her or hate her, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell is more than a figurehead for Washingtonians.  Personally, I appreciate her softer spoken style. Most of my career, people point out that I’m not as loud as my male counterparts. Is that so wrong? Sen. Cantwell’s results is proof that one doesn’t need to speak loudly to make a big difference. #QuietIsBetter #SaferRoads

The post Who needs AOC? WA senator for safer roads and rails first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.

Seattle recently reported its new and improved proactive approach to pedestrian safety (to use FHWA’s language.  Below are excerpts of a 2020 City of Seattle Dept. of Transportation (SDOT) report:

…the number of overall traffic-related fatalities continues to trend downward. However, pedestrian and cyclist crashes have remained relatively steady. To meet
the growing demand while improving safety, the City developed the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Analysis (BPSA), a robust approach to modeling pedestrian and
bicyclist safety. [Emphasis added.]

BACKGROUND ON SEATTLE’S BPSA
The City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) first implemented the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Analysis (BPSA) in 2016 as a data-driven approach for understanding where, how, and why crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists happen. [Citation omitted.]

Phase 1 laid the foundation for conducting the statistical analysis. It included pedestrian and bicycle crash data from 2007 to 2014, as well as roadway, demographics, transit, lighting, traffic signal presence, and pedestrian and bicyclist volume data.

Note, however, a 2020 SDOT study includes the below graph, which seems to challenge its conclusion about pedestrian accidents remaining “relatively steady”.

Does SDOT’s graph here really show that Seattle is “holding steady” with pedestrian accidents? Hint: The orange line is spiking up.

Here’s what we are seeing at Fleming Law: Pedestrian injuries are growing at a rapid pace, even with the pandemic. Clients have come to us to represent them against negligent drivers, bicyclists, and cities. Cities and all Washington municipalities have a

…well-established duty to maintain their roadways in a condition safe for ordinary travel. This duty is not limited to the roadways themselves, and does not exempt municipalities from responsibility where the unsafe condition is caused by a roadside condition like vegetation or other sight obstructions. See e.g., Wuthrich v. King County, 91555-5 (Jan. 28, 2016).*

Municipalities are negligent when they fail to meet their duty to design, construct, and maintain roadways that are reasonably safe for all travelers in Washington State.

Important takeaway: When SDOT knows that major hazards for travelers arising from its design and construction of a road, an injured pedestrian (or bicyclist or driver) has a legal claim for damages against SDOT.  As our own pedestrian/bicycle injury attorney Catherine Fleming has seen with her clients, recent designs have have led to catastrophic injuries, In particular, clients we represent have suffered as the result of unsafe road design and maintenance that include protected bike lanes, bus stops, and marked crosswalks.

While people continued to get hurt or killed because of unsafe roads in Seattle, we need SDOT to quicken its pace and intensify its focus to provide adequate means for all of us to get around this city.

* I am proud of my colleagues at my former firm, Keith Kessler and Ray Kahler, both in Hoquiam, WA, who helped cement the law on behalf of Mt. Wuthrich.

The post Dangerous crosswalk for pedestrians: Roosevelt protected bike lane first appeared on FLEMING LAW | Top Personal Injury Attorney: Seattle Bike | Pedestrian | Road Crashes.