According to the PI the drivers are trapped in their cars: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattle911/archives/160848.asp

Ugh. People, SUVs are NOT SAFER, they’re more dangerous, they DON’T protect you in a crash, and they’re much more likely to get into them due to poor handling and brakes.

I dont know if I agree with you Fnarf, that looks like a bad one and it stands to reason that the people in the smaller car will be more impacted..especially if they are hit by a big SUV.

I just hope everyone involved here is ok…….

Wow; I was in Ballard at the time and it took me an hour and a half to get from the Walgreens at 15th and Market back in to Magnolia; creeping along Leary Way and over the Fremont Bridge for the detour. Traffic was all snarled up. I hope that those involved in the accident survive.

The issue seems to be the guy was going 60 MPH, struck a car, continued driving and then struck another car. SUV, whatever isn’t the issue – clearly he was doing something he probably shouldn’t have.

One thing we see continually, is a lot of speeding on 15th. People also speed down the bus lane and continue speeding up the bridge. The bus lane has somehow turned us all in to Speedracer in our attempts to beat everyone else to the bridge.

Lets all think about our driving habits and keep these two individuals who were taken to Harborview in our thoughts and prayers.

The traffic getting home to my NE Magnolia home sucked as the Ballard Bridge was closed on the North end. The accident was just South of Dravus so was there not another way to divert traffic around so that Magnolia residents could get home at 8:30 pm? I was listening to KOMO radio the whole time and they offered too Little info for us Islanders to get home. This just really wants me to move away again because of these darn Bridges. If the guy survives throw the book at him too. I do hope that all the victims recover. My point here is that Seattle Police need to do a better Job in rediecting traffic and provide better information to citizens so they can be better informed.

DB-you certainly hit the nail on the head. I too live in NE Mag and was in Ballard trying to get home. I ended up parking and walking across the locks, which was a nice walk and all. I spoke with an officer detouring traffic from the bridge and he said it was all done for our safety. Yeah sure… This has happened before and will happen again. I don’t understand why it was necessary to stop all traffic at the north end of the bridge. I think they could certainly have closed 15th at Dravus and rerouted from there. And the reporting on this was absolutely horrible, “traffic on 15th is blocked at Armory Way” not exactly accurate or very helpful for the thousands of people impacted by this.

I do hope the victims in this are doing okay and I also hope that it’s a pretty big book that’s dropped on the driver that caused all of this.

Raab, I totally agree with you,and pray for the injured that they recover. The closing of the north end of the bridge was ridiculous.

What kind of person gets drunk or stoned or whatever at 3 in the afternoon and then gets in a car???? That guy deserves that highest possible penalty for his actions.

It is weird that they closed the Ballard Bridge. It makes sense to close 15th at Dravus, which they did, but not the bridge. That really made the situation worse. We came home to Magnolia around 8pm via QA and when we croseed Dravus, 15th was still backed up a long way. Seems like shutting down the bridge caused back ups that could have been avoided.

I hope someone can get the police or the city to explain why the bridge had to be closed when the accident was so far South. It didnt’ make any sense. Too two hours to get home from Ballard. Why?

Does anyone know how the injured are? and who was the knuckle head that caused the wreck.

They might have closed the bridge to be sure they could get aid vehicles to and from the crash.

Fnarf,
I agree that SUV’s can be less safe than other cars, when you’re talking about driving in the snow, etc. and people in SUVs become overly confident. But that is irrelevant here, where the accident was clearly caused by the worst kind of reckless driving. Perhaps he would have done less damage to others in a Porche, but the cause of the accidents was complete disregard for safety of self and others, not the type of car he was driving.

I didn’t say that the accident was caused by an SUV; I said that lots and lots of people buy SUVs because they think they are safer, but they are NOT — they are significantly more dangerous, more likely to get into crashes, and cause more damage to occur when accidents do happen. People who drive SUVs are putting harm into the world.

People who drive SUVs are putting harm into the world?
Don’t be stupid. There is no standard, everyone does their own thing for their own reason. Some people who drive SUVs are idiots and others who drive small cars (racers?) are idiots. To generalize sounds like the 60′s-70′s… sheesh, cop a clue.

It seems a lot of people are confused as to why the bridge was closed, after some others were just speaking of how people like to “Speedracer” it up to the bridge, in either direction to beat the traffic. Had they left the bridge open they would have risked rescue vehicles and damaged vehicles in the road getting hit because other’s had no idea what to expect on the other side of the bridge.

I have been commuting for many years on i-5 from Tacoma to Seattle and visa versa, and have seen and/or heard of many accidents that were caused by previous accidents. Sometimes 2 and 3 times over, because later coming drivers aren’t aware that there are vehicles stopped ahead and not driving cautious enough to stop in time. In fact, there was one morning it took me 3.5 hours to get from Tacoma to Seattle because there were upward of 5 accidents all caused by the one previous and unsuspecting drivers.

Finally, my point is: I am very glad, though it took me 45 minutes to get from Fremont to Eastlake and I was very frustrated, that they did close the bridge to prevent more accidents and injuries.

It seems like the road needed to be closed for a while since it was possible that the accident would result in fatalities and it would be a crime scene. Why the Ballard bridge needed to be closed is a mystery. Did SPD not have enough manpower to redirect traffic off 15th at Emerson/Nickerson?

Now please don’t dog on Ballard and say how great Magnolia drivers are but the driver of the green Toyota Highlander is a Ballard/Crown hill resident. I know for he lives a few houses away from me and I recognize the chrome wheels (unnatural for a Toyota).

I was not saying they should not have closed the road. That makes complete sense to me. I understand that people driving by would be in the way and also possibly even lead to more accidents. What I cannot figure out is why they could not close the road down at the south end of the bridge and/or at Dravus. Now it was been pointed out that for EMS to get on scene makes complete sense and there was a large contingent of EMS on scene, but the entire bridge? Wouldn’t EMS personnel coming from say Ballard still have to navigate through the back up created by closing the bridge at the north end as well? I don’t think it would have taken any more manpower then was already assigned to the situation either.

I don’t know where 15th was closed on the south end of things. I heard it was at Mercer. Was that the case?

For me I guess it doesn’t really matter, I trust that SPD and SDOT will review their response to the situation and if warranted make changes. I just continue to hope that the people hurt in this are doing better and that the individual responsible is held accountable for what happened.

Am curious to know what happened to the driver that caused the accident? Haven’t heard or read anything about it. Was he drunk? Kind of strange that there has been no word about him. Did he go to jail?

Am fairly certain that if drugs or alcohol were in the blood tests of the driver then it would have been all over the news by now. The fact that it hasnt leads me to believe it was something different. Only sensationalism makes the news. It is certain that police knew within hours the results of any mandatory blood testing after his arrival at hospital.

4thought….good point. The driver of the Highlander is a good friend of mine and thanks for sticking up for him. Something else happened here aside from drugs or alcohol.

Well I truly liked reading it. This subject provided by you is very effective for accurate planning.

This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.

This is really a extremely beneficial read for me, Have to admit you might be 1 in the most effective bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.

I have been examinating out some of your stories and i can claim pretty clever stuff. I will surely bookmark your website.

This website is awesome. I constantly come across something new & different right here. Thank you for that data.

Many thanks for an excellent and useful article We truly recognize all of the effort which went in to the creating.

I am not able to enjoy this site properly on opera I think there is a problem.

how do you get ideas for your content? because i find your content very engaging everytime i see your blog.

I attempted to create a new comment before, however it has not shown up. Is there a problem with your spam filter?

Resources this kind of as the 1 you mentioned right here will be incredibly useful to myself! I will publish a hyperlink to this web page on my particular weblog. I’m sure my site site visitors will discover that very helpful.

I’m happy I found this weblog, I couldnt uncover any info on this topic matter prior to. I also run a site and if you want to ever serious in a little bit of guest writing for me if possible really feel free to let me know, i’m always appear for people to check out my site. Please stop by and leave a comment sometime!

Only wanna remark on few general things, The website style and design is perfect, the subject matter is real fantastic : D.

Hey. I wanted to inform you that your writeing is super. Sorry because my English. I’m from Litua and i am using google translate so i can read your blog

This is an informative post, thanks a lot!

I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…

I NEED THIS INFOMATION.

I’m still learning from you, but I’m trying to achieve my goals. I certainly love reading all that is posted on your site.Keep the information coming. I loved it!

Good post and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is actually the best place to ask but do you people have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thank you

Great article, I am regular website visitor of this site, keep up the great work, and I will be a standard visitor for just a very long time.

My sis told me about your web site and how great it is. She’s right, I’m really impressed with the writing and slick design. It appears to me you’re just scratching the floor when it comes to what you can accomplish, however you’re off to an awesome start!

Hi! I found your blog on AOL.It is really comprehensive and it helped me a lot.

You made several fine points there. I did a search on the subject matter and found most persons will agree with your blog.

Typically I do not publish on blogs, but I would like to say that this put up definitely compelled me to do so! definitely wonderful put up

I have been trying to find the google for such info and just wanted to say thanks to u for the post. By the way, just off topic, where can i get a version of this theme? – Regards

Wow, an amazing information man. Thnx But I’m experiencing trouble with the rss feed. Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Does anyone having similar rss trouble? Anyone who knows please respond. Thanks!

I think you have produced many really fascinating points. Not as well many ppl would really think about this the way you just did. I am very impressed that there is so much about this subject that has been revealed and you made it so nicely, with so considerably class. Superior one, man! Genuinely wonderful things right here.

Your website came up in my search and I’m taken by what you have composed on this topic.
I’ve bookmarked your web site and will be returning to keep up with any future post

Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I wanted to say that it’s nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first place that told me the answer. Thanks. You’ll be incredibly grateful that you did.

Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I take a fragment of your post to my blog?

Of course, what a magnificent site and illuminating posts, I surely will bookmark your website.Best Regards!

Really fresh new post. Never thought in which it had been that straightforward . I had passed a good amount of my time frame searching for somebody to describe that topic unmistakably plus you are the only one that ever does that. Congrats to you!

Really helpful blog post. By no means thought that it had been this simple . I had spent a good deal of my time searching for anyone to clarify that subject unmistakably plus you are the only you that actually does that. Congrats to you Keep it up

Excellent. I’ve been looking everywhere for this. THX

This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.

I attempted to publish a comment earlier, however it has not shown up. Is there something wrong with your spam filter?

Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…

I found your entry interesting do I have added a Trackback to it on my weblog

Keep functioning ,great job!

I have beeing trying to find the WWW for this info and just wanted to say thanks to u for this post. BTW, just off topic, how can i get a copy of this theme? – 10x