We got this email over the weekend. Please be sure to drive safely in our neighborhood!
We live on 36th Ave. West across from Discovery Park and witnessed quite a scary event yesterday afternoon as a car came careening through the shacane in front of our house at speeds far exceeding the posted limit. The driver of the Volvo XC90 lost control of the vehicle and flew through our fence, our neighbors fence and finally came to a stop after smashing into a parked van in the neighbor’s parking pad. The driver then tried to back out, not realizing that there is a four foot drop into our yard from the neighbor’s where she had come to rest. The SUV ended up hanging precariously over the retaining wall, as can be seen in the picture. This driver was incredibly lucky that nobody was injured. She missed someone pruning our rosebushes by a mere 10 feet, there was a pedestrian walking his dog not 15 feet in the other direction, and the corner right under where the wheel came to rest is my daughter’s favorite digging spot in the yard where she had been playing with a friend not two hours before the incident.
I’m hoping this email and photo will help people remember that this is a residential neighborhood and we must always make safe choices when behind the wheel. As summer approaches and more people are out and about, please slow down and follow the rules of the road. And please, under no circumstances, drive while impaired in any way. Be safe!
Time to take pedestrian safety seriously and slow it down to 20 mph in the core area of Magnolia.
I see people speeding and walkers and the elderly terrified of these SUVs with parents on cell phones unaware of their part as a decent neighbor.
Slow it down and pay attention. If you can avoid the Village as a thoroughfare do so.
Save a life and hang up the phone. It’s a car not a phone booth!
I see so many people racing around the village, especially in front of Ace. PLEASE, let’s all slow down. The consequences are potentially disasterous.
Any time I see a Volvo or Subaru, I assume the person behind the wheel can’t drive and give them a wide berth. I have yet to be wrong.
You must spend a lot of time giving a wide berth. Every other car around here is a subaru or a volvo. Ha ha, I think you are probably better at generalizations than predictions!
I hope that the dummy was charged with something.
That woman should NEVER drive again. And she should have to pay for ALL the damage!!! Probably tweeting or something….
This is awful. I have to agree. I am in the village every day and you would not believe the people speeding! Especially on 32nd and 34th (near the school)! These people are our friends and neighbors speeding and I’m always shocked because, what if? I was driving to pick up my children on 34th the other day at 3pm when a TODDLER raced in front of me and another car coming the opposite way, while the mother had no clue as she was on the other side of the car. Thankfully, I was driving slowly and had time to stop. So, I indicated to the mom that her kid was across the street. Waiting for her. but jeez….
Just this morning some idiot was speeding and ran a stop sign behind the village. Came within inches of slamming into my car and then had the nerve to flip me off as if I’d done something wrong. (I had no stop sign and had the right of way.) Way too many people speeding and not paying attention around here. :/
Part of the neighborhood plan conceived more than a decade ago was to slow down traffic. I would like to see a 20 MPH zone from 34th to 32nd Lynn to Barrett just to instill in people the fact we want our “village” to be people friendly and walker friendly—-not car centered. I need to use my car but what I see in our own community freaks me out, even when crossing guards are present in the AM.
I hope to be channeling Ursula soon after I complete another couple community projects including getting a crosswalk put where my sister was struck by a car in Ballard last summer.
If you feel strongly about this act, tell the community club this should be a priority. The new law from Olympia should allow us more leeway to change the speed limit in pedestrian parts of the city.
Most people don’t know it’s the STATE law to stop for any pedestrian at a corner, zebra stripe or not. Ask any person under 40 and they did not learn it in driver’s ed.
It must change is we want to have a community that honors the elderly and disabled as well as children and their families.
The speeding through neighborhood streets really does need to be addressed. 34th may be a main north/south corridor, but there’s no need to treat it like a racetrack. It’s starting to become pretty scary trying to cross anywhere there isn’t a crosswalk protected by a stop sign or traffic signal. This is a dominantly residential neighborhood – please show a little more respect for pedestrians – we all want to get where we are going and back home safely!
Since people driving on 32nd and 34th don’t always realize the implications of driving fast (may not be paying enough attention) and since this is the reality, is it feasible to have speed bumps in the village? What city office would oversee this? I see drivers getting up to speed on both streets who don’t take it in that there is a school or that “the Village” is more than just a portion of their efforts to get to the bridge or Dravus. There has to be a traffic-altering device in place, otherwise it is impossible for anyone to safely cross during the times people are rushing across town, attentive only to their phones or waiting appointments…which is pretty much always.
should’ve posted the plates as a public shaming of this moron.
Late for commenting, but I’m often shocked at how people race up the hill at Dravus. Given that it’s after 5:30, and not always nice weather, I’m assuming that they’re other Magnolia residents. As someone who looks for excuses to NOT cross Dravus (due to the speeders as well as the tragedy in Wedgwood earlier this year) I hope everyone will consider how quickly something can turn tragic, and reconsider their hurry to get home.