The Seattle Department of Transportation is looking into the safety of the intersection of NW 46th St and 14th Ave NW following the death of a pedestrian last week. 65-year-old Cara E. Masciana was out walking her dogs when she was struck by a BMW in a crosswalk late in the evening on August 27. The driver was a 34-year-old woman who failed to stop at the stop sign; police arrested her for a DUI.
SDOT provided the following statement:
This was a tragic incident and we take it very seriously. A couple of years ago we noticed several ‘T-bone’ crashes happening at the intersection. So, we installed an all-way stop. When people obey the signs, the intersection operates well, and we stopped the crashes. We’ll review the police report from [the August 27th] incident and perform an assessment of the intersection. Currently no changes have been identified.
Earnest Hilsenberg lives near the intersection, and told KIRO that he often sees people flying through the intersection after failing to see the stop sign. “They put those little orange flags on them, but it probably needs to be a flashing stop sign,” Hilsenberg told KIRO.
SDOT says it takes them roughly three weeks to do an assessment; we’ll update when we learn of their findings.