Whatcom’s 7 pedestrian deaths in 2019 ‘way too many’ — here’s why they occurred
It became an all-too-familiar headline in 2019 — seven times, a pedestrian died on a Whatcom Country roadway, according to data collected by the Washington State Department of Transportation Crash Portal.
That’s more than double the three pedestrian deaths that occurred in the county in 2018. And all three of those came in either November or December, meaning the county had 10 pedestrian deaths in the past 16 months.
“That’s simply way too many,” Washington Traffic Safety Commission Region 11 Target Zero Manager Doug Dahl told The Bellingham Herald.
For comparison, there were four pedestrian fatalities from 2015-17 in Whatcom County after there were six in 2014, WSDOT data shows.
Fortunately, there have not been any during the first 50-plus days of 2020.
But there were 17 other pedestrian-involved incidents in 2018 and 2019 WSDOT classified as suspected serious injury, and that’s not counting a handful of other pedestrian-involved collisions that resulted in death or injury along Interstate 5 just south of the Whatcom-Skagit county line.
Even more disturbing, Dahl said, is that half of those 10 Whatcom fatalities potentially involved a mental health or suicide aspect.
“It’s pretty startling that half of our fatal pedestrian traffic incidents the past two years involve mental illness or suicide,” Dahl said. “I’m certainly not a mental health expert, but that is very concerning to me.”
Mental health aspect
The Washington State Patrol investigated eight of the 10 pedestrian deaths in Whatcom County.
Of those eight, one was deemed to be a suicide, Trooper Heather Axtman told The Bellingham Herald in an email. In another, the pedestrian possibly suffered from excited delirium and toxicology results showed positive for drug use, Axtman reported.
In at least two other fatalities, exactly why the pedestrian was in the lane of travel is unknown, Axtman wrote. Three others are still under investigation, because they were hit-and-run collisions.
“Sometimes we just don’t have answers, and those are the hardest,” Axtman told The Herald in a follow-up conversation. “It leaves so many broken hearts and so many questions.”
It is not uncommon for troopers to be called to assist suicidal people on overpasses throughout District 7, which includes Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, Island and San Juan counties, Axtman said.
“I believe that the success rate of taking the subject into protective custody once we’re there outweighs the times that the people actually jump,” Axtman said.
Bigger is not better
Mental health is not the only factor in the high number of pedestrian deaths, Dahl said, adding that the number of pedestrian-involved crashes has not gone up.
“As our road fleet shift from a larger percentage of cars to a larger percentage of SUVs, we’re seeing the fatality rates go up,” Dahl told The Herald. “The mechanism when you get hit by a Toyota Camry, you get hit in the legs and you fall into the hood. Still serious injuries, but very survivable, assuming it’s at a reasonable speed.
“With an SUV you get hit and pushed under the hood, and the survival rates are much lower. It’s physics, basically.”
Speed kills
As with any type of crash, speed is a large factor, Dahl said.
“When it comes to pedestrian crashes, speed is the big thing when it comes to they survive or not,” Dahl told The Herald. “Survival rate for car-pedestrian crashes at 25 mph is really good, like over 90%. But as speeds increase it’s not a linear rate. At 40 mph, most pedestrians die.”
Not surprisingly, half of Whatcom County’s 10 pedestrian deaths the past year have occurred where the speed limit is the highest — along Interstate 5, though one of those was a hit-and-run incident that occurred at the Custer rest stop on Oct. 4.
Another pedestrian fatality on July 23 occurred on the Guide Meridian near Smith Road.
But city streets are not immune, as interim Lynden Police Chief Michael Knapp died after being struck crossing Fourth Street Nov. 5.
“We look at the speed limit as the speed we’re supposed to be at, rather than the maximum,” Dahl said. “In reality, we need to drive the appropriate speed for the environment. When it’s dark and there is really crummy visibility, it’s fine to be significantly slower than the speed limit. Don’t feel any pressure to go any particular speed.”
Dahl said on certain streets he routinely drives 5 to 7 mph below the speed limit because he knows kids live in the area or there are other hazards, and “I don’t feel like I have enough reaction time.”
Visibility saves
All but two of the pedestrian fatal incidents occurred either after dark or at dusk.
The two exceptions were the incident at the Custer rest stop and a workplace incident on July 22 when a Dawson Construction employee was hit and killed on Arctic Avenue near Costco by a dump truck that was backing up.
“We live in Washington — we wear dark gray and black and brown,” Dahl said. ““As a pedestrian, it’s super easy to see cars, and you assume because you can see them, they can see you, but that’s not true at all. ... Make no assumptions about what a driver can see.”
Dahl said that through many runners and bikers remember to wear bright or reflective clothing when they go out, when Whatcom residents go out to do something less organized, such as walking the dog, they tend to just grab whatever coat is near.
“I think it’s a fairly normal thing to do,” Dahl said. “We forget that we’re all pedestrians at some point.”
But one place nobody should be a pedestrian, Axtman said, is on freeways and highways.
“We encourage people to stay off the freeway as a pedestrian; find an alternate route,” Axtman said. “If you’re in a vehicle that becomes disabled on the freeway, we encourage you to get your car to the side of the road and call for assistance.”
