

Take the Pedestrian Safety Quiz


“I do it as a public service,” a friend of mine likes to intone when he does me a favor, and that’s what I was thinking during two long hours at the Ballard Pedestrian Issues Open House at the library on Tuesday night. By attending, I was doing you the service of not needing to attend. If you can correctly answer at least six of the following questions then you can sleep well in the knowledge that attending would only have caused undue stress and/or nightmares. I just couldn’t resist a meeting on the subject of a Road Diet.

Didn’t know about or couldn’t attend the Open House? Just try the following Pedestrian Safety Quiz and you can be excused. Don’t live in Ballard? That’s okay, a Road Diet is probably coming to a street near you.

1. The average daily vehicle traffic on NW 24th, between Market Street and 65th is
A) too many cars
B) at least 6,000
C) 14,854
D) like a million
E) all of the above

2. The chances of being hit by an automobile are statistically higher if
A) you are a child or senior citizen
B) in an uncontrolled marked crosswalk
C) crossing four lanes of traffic
D) in the street
E) all of the above

3. The correct definition of a Road Diet is
A) limiting the number of bakeries per city block
B) designating separate lanes for compact vehicles versus oversized vehicles
C) reducing the number of lanes
D) adding Curves at every intersection
E) none of the above

4. Which of the overheard comments by citizens is not real
A) We don’t need a Road Diet. We need a City Council Diet because they don’t represent us.
B) I don’t want a picayune explanation. I just want to know what neighbors think.
C) It was so thoughtful of them to provide Chex Mix and Costco cookies.
D) Pedestrians need to learn to look out for themselves.
E) Our mayor is not listening to the people. He is listening to the big money.

5. Which of the responses by SDOT presenters was actually fabricated by me?
A) We’re building a picture of what we’ve heard.
B) No matter what we do there’s an unintended consequence.
C) When you have just one lane for buses, you’re going to have some problems.
D) I get to build about ten traffic signals per year, if I’m lucky.
E) It will be the community that makes the choice.
F) A road diet is relatively cheap. All we have to do is paint.
G) None of the above.

6. Which choice did citizens not propose as an alternative to reducing 24th NW to three lanes?
A) an overpass
B) a moratorium on building condominiums
C) traffic cameras
D) making developers pay for the overpass
E) undercover pedestrian sting operations

7. Mark each True or False
The 2000 census data can accurately portray Ballard in 2008.
There are 47 remaining uncontrolled marked crosswalks in the city on four lane streets.
The proposed change is being driven by sheer concern for pedestrian safety.
SDOT has completed 17 Road Diets.
It’s up to citizens to choose between two proposed plans, or suggest others.

The correct answers are 1E, (but 1C as of July 2004); 2E; 3C; 4C, 5G, and 6B. For #7…Doubtful, True, Doubtful, True, supposedly True.

If you got any of the above right then congratulations I have just saved you two hours. I learned that we needed to be providing public comment back 1993 or 1994 when “we” supposedly first worked on the Seattle Comprehensive Plan that has set us on track to becoming the Ballard Hub Village and Crown Hill Residential Urban Village. The Seattle Department Of Transportation representatives were all very sincere, even passionate about their channelization and signal studies, but it wasn’t a crowd that wanted to hear about more change. Truest statement came from the Strategic Planning and Urban Design rep when she said, “land use changes have happened faster than those of transportation.”

After two hours I can condense the meeting to the following:

SDOT is removing the uncontrolled crosswalk by Archie McPhee’s.
SDOT is adding a traffic signal at Barnes and NW Market.
SDOT will either remove the uncontrolled crosswalk at 58th and 24th or reduce the number of traffic lanes on NW 24th, from four to three, with one center turn lane. Then the crosswalk can stay and we will be statistically safer.

More apartments and condo’s are on the way; the huge QFC project is getting close to fruition and another mixed use retail/residential is slated for the old library location.

Ballard residents may have missed their chance to weigh in on land use but the SDOT folks claim they are listening to comments before proceeding on NW 24th. The general public has another week for those comments to make a difference on the project. SDOT says that they do this as a public service. We’re the public and we have until October 27th to tell them what we think and why. Weigh in whether or not this diet is to your liking. or leave a message at 615-1608.

Categories: Uncategorized
Peggy Sturdivant

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