Police Pull Over Speeding Driver Near Suicide Hill Yesterday

Bottom of dangerous hill looking east on NE 41st Street

Yesterday about 7:30am a Seattle Police Officer pulled over a driver going way too fast on NE 41st Street commonly known as "Suicide Hill, "  the the dangerous hill on NE 41st Street between 42nd Avenue NE and 43rd Avenue NE.

A nearby neighbor told us the driver was  "finally getting caught doing what so many of the drivers in that area do so often along NE 41st Street."

Robin, who works on road safety with the Laurelhurst Community Club, has  over many years witnessed accidents and near misses,  And now he is working to improve the safety in that area.

Following a review in October by Jim Curtin , SDOT Traffic Safety Coordinator, several modifications and changes were recommended to ensure better safety for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. 

One of these recommendations was Seattle Police patrolling for speeders and this will continue to occur as neighbors report speeders driving in excess of 50mph down the hill.

Other changes to the area now in place are SDOT "SLOW DOWN" signs. However, a neighbor told us that "so far some of the speeders seem to be going too fast to read them".

Other changes will be:

• Cutting back trees for visibility, especially those on on the north side of "Suicide Hill" and in the right-of-way to improve sight lines for all who travel along the corridor. This work will occur on NE 41^st Street between 42^nd Avenue NE and 43^rd Avenue NE.
• Replacing faded regulatory signs at the intersection and refresh the stop bars.
• A  new advisory sign indicating an advisory speed of 15 mph going downhill will be installed west of the Laurelhurst Park entrance and a new 30 mph speed limit sign will be posted at a location east of 48^th Avenue NE or 50^th Avenue NE for the westbound direction.
• Remarking the stop bars.

In October we posted about a dog that was struck and killed by a speeding driver on NE 41st Street and in  December we reported about two car accidents, one in which one person left in an ambulance and the other the speeding driver lost control and hit the median sending one tired into the fence at Talaris and knocking part of it down.

We also posted comments from neighbors who live and drive through that area.

 

Laurelhurst Community Club wrote this to Police Sergeant Newsom yesterday, following the incident:

The Laurelhurst Community Club is grateful that you have provided police officers to monitor speeding on Suicide Hill (along NE 41^st in Laurelhurst). There have been serious accidents along this stretch and to date SDOT has been unable to solve the problem. The speeding cars scare our neighbors and it’s just a matter of time before someone is seriously injured. Thank you very much for your efforts.

Robin reminds drivers that the speed limit for all Seattle streets, unless otherwise posted, is 25mph.