Updated: Police and fire were called to the scene of a car accident at the Ballard Locks early this morning.
Photo of the scene taken by Kiro7. More photos can be seen here.
According to police, a late-model Honda driven by a female in her late teens to early twenties was heading southbound on 32nd Ave NW and crashed into the metal gates at the Locks just after midnight.
Photo of the scene taken by Kiro7. More photos can be seen here.
Seattle firefighters extricated her from the car and transported her to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police say. No one else was in the vehicle. Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.
how tragic.
I guess with that stoplight and 7-11 catty-corner, it looks like a normal street going southbound. I wonder if she was driving down 32nd or if she made a turn onto the ‘street’.
hope she’s ok.
Drunkeness is hardly tragic
It’s never really looked like a “normal street” to me (a huge iron gate surrounded by trees). Then again, I tend to be sober when I’m driving.
it’s actually quite dark around there with some big trees, and black iron gates tend to disappear into the foliage at night.
I think it’s premature to assume she was inebriated. She’s a young, inexperienced driver; let’s leave it at that.
Good, it looks like they removed the comment about her being drunk.
I hope she’ll be okay. I agree, it’s not well lit around there at night, but most of us don’t think about it, because we know it’s equivalent to a dead end.
Texting and driving? Saw a green light and nobody in front of her so she just kept on texting?
Let’s guess – drunk, texting, or yakking away about something really important on her cell phone? Or some combination of those?
“A young, inexperienced driver”? Stop making excuses for irresponsible morons. Hey, if you drive straight into a wall, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car, no mater how young or old you are.
What – the outrage only flows if there’s a bicycle rider involved?
“Hey, if you drive straight into a wall, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel…”
Where I live, we call that a gate.
Generally when life-threatening conditions are involved it’s best to handle the situation with a bit of tact in public forums, regardless of what your opinion is on the matter.
That car looks to have been going about 60 mph down a 30 mph street.
30 mph brick wall (or iron gate, in this case) will do significant damage if you don’t brake at all, thus hitting it at speed.
The damage in the photos is actually consistent with 30 MPH crash tests.
prob azn..
These are crash gates that are designed to stop an imminant threat to a piece of critical infrastructure, in this case the locks which are maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers. They are designed to stopp a 15k lbs vehicle traveling at 30 MPH. She did not intend to hit these gates intentionally.
i think i know who it is…i really hope she will recover quickly and completely.
you shouldn’t assume anything. were you there? do you know the girl?
i didn’t think so
You’re the definition on an inconsiderate prick. People who know this girl are reading your comments. She’s in the hospital and this is what you have to say?
This is such a sad story, the only good part is she was the only person injured, thankfully she did not have a car full of her friends.