Dangerous Crosswalk
This crosswalk, at East 39th Street, just east of Interstate 5, was out of commission for five months due to a faulty light system and the city’s inability to maintain it properly. This was a dangerous situation. A young girl was hit by a car here last month, sustaining serious injuries. Her attorney maintains negligence on the part of the City of Vancouver, which could result in a pending claim and/or possible lawsuit against the city. This non-working crosswalk was a grant project under previous officers and board members of Rosemere: Joe Schwartz, Pam Schwartz, Bernice Couch, Sundae Pennell, Dick Larsen, Betty Pennell, Pam Brown, and Randy Porter.
Crossing without the lights
Thursday, March 18, 2004
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
Accident involving 15-year-old pedestrian occurred while lights were broken, but many factors can play a role
The amber lights embedded in the asphalt are supposed to provide a warning beacon, flashing to alert motorists to a pedestrian crossing the road.
The lights weren’t blinking on a wet Friday night six weeks ago. A 15-year-old girl was struck by a sport utility vehicle and injured while in the crosswalk on East 39th Street, near Leverich Park Way just east of Interstate 5.
Malarie Gum-Grivell suffered a broken pelvis, a broken right arm and assorted injuries to her teeth and jaw in the Feb. 6 accident.
The flashing crosswalk, intended to deter such accidents, hadn’t been working since October.
Craig Andersen, an attorney with the Morse & Bratt law firm in Vancouver, contends the city of Vancouver was negligent.
“The fact they allowed that condition from October forward tells me someone was asleep at the switch,” said Andersen, who was hired by the girl’s family.
Vancouver began installing flashing crosswalks in 1999 as a way to reduce auto-pedestrian accidents.
Communities across the nation are trying new technology to improve pedestrian safety. A pedestrian is struck by a vehicle every 8 minutes in the United States. A pedestrian is killed every 92 minutes. Roughly 45 percent of these deaths and injuries occur when pedestrians cross or enter streets.
Richard Hoffman, Vancouver’s operations superintendent, said replacement parts were ordered for the 39th Street crossing, but they didn’t arrive until this month. The repair work was done March 9.
“Sometimes the manufacturer doesn’t support them really well, and it’s hard to get parts,” Hoffman said.
“We were extremely vigilant in trying to get the parts,” said Brian Carlson, Vancouver’s public works director. “Our guys searched high and low to try to find something else that would work in this case. … They were checking up every week.”
The city erected signs warning pedestrians the crosswalk lights weren’t working and urging them to use caution, Carlson said. After the repairs were made, the signs were modified to note that the lights were operative but that pedestrians still need to use caution while crossing.
Kevan Battan, the city’s maintenance supervisor for traffic signals and street lighting, oversaw the March 9 repair. He said all the embedded lights a dozen units in all had to be rebuilt using parts manufactured in England.
Battan said moisture gets into the light fixtures, a common problem in a rainy climate. The city had to rebuild the 39th Street flashing crosswalk once before, he said.
“It’s a maintenance nightmare,” Battan said. “It will probably go out in the next six months or so.”
Carlson said the city has had “issues with some of this technology. Certainly the jury is out if we continue to use this type of application.”
The maintenance issue is particularly difficult because Vancouver has seven flashing crosswalks manufactured by three different companies.
Matt Ransom, Vancouver’s transportation planning manager, said the variety is due to competitive bidding requirements. Whichever company meets specifications and submits the lowest bid gets the contract, he said.
The flashing crosswalks are installed at pedestrian crossings away from intersections, where motorists typically do not expect a crosswalk. Placement is based on a number of factors, including pedestrian numbers, traffic volumes and vehicle speeds, road geometry and accident history.
“It’s an appropriate enhancement at certain locations,” Ransom said. “We evaluate these possible enhancements on a case-by-case basis. We don’t have a master plan.”
It’s unclear to what degree the broken crosswalk contributed to the Feb. 6 accident, if at all. A dozen different factors, from vehicle speed to weather conditions to the pedestrian’s clothing, could have played a role in the accident.
“The lights are there to help the motorists stop,” Hoffman said. “But as in any crosswalk, the pedestrian has to be aware and look both ways.”
The city was not required to install the flashing sidewalk on 39th Street. Washington law says drivers must yield the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks.
“It’s clear what the motorist has to do, whether the device is there or not,” Ransom said.
Vancouver police wouldn’t allow The Columbian to read reports from the Feb. 6 accident. Sgt. Timothy Kim of the department’s traffic unit said Officer Jeffrey Starks only recently completed his investigation.
Only hours after the accident, police released information to the media that provided some details.
“It was dark, rainy, with some street lighting,” the news release said. “She was wearing dark clothing and using an umbrella due to the rain. When she got to the eastbound lane, she was struck by a white SUV.
“The impact caused her shoes to be knocked from her feet, the umbrella was knocked (out) of her hands, and a dark-blue sweatshirt was also knocked out of her grasp. The victim landed a short distance to the east, in the middle yellow-painted median.”
Kim said police reports make little reference to the flashing crosswalk, other than to note it was not working.
Findings from the police investigation will be forwarded to Clark County Prosecutor Art Curtis for a decision on whether the SUV’s driver, 41-year-old William E. Roper, will face any charges. Roper left the accident scene and called authorities a couple hours later.
When contacted last week, Roper declined to discuss the case, on advice of his attorney.
“All I can say is I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said. When asked if he saw the girl, Roper replied: “I didn’t see anything.”
Andersen said his clients are in the beginning stages of filing a claim against the city, which could be followed by a lawsuit after a 60-day waiting period.
“It has been my experience they will contact me before that time and begin settlement negotiations,” he said.
Andersen wasn’t prepared to say if the inoperative embedded crosswalk lights contributed to the accident.
“The driver’s version of the facts is he didn’t see her,” he said. “So one would ask the obvious question: Would he had seen her had the lights been blinking?”
Carlson said the city can only do so much to safeguard pedestrians.
“I don’t have the magic shield,” he said. “I’d love to put a bubble around everyone, but I can’t.”
Jeffrey Mize covers Vancouver city government for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-759-8006, or by e-mail at jeff.mize@columbian.com.
