The 15th pedestrian in Anchorage has died in traffic. On Friday afternoon, a man was fatally struck near 34th Avenue on C Street in midtown by a Jeep Gladiator pickup that was traveling south on C Street.
Patrol officers and Anchorage Fire Department paramedics responded around 5:16 p.m. and cleared the scene after 11 p.m.; meanwhile, the pedestrian was declared dead at a local hospital.
It’s been a year since the Anchorage Assembly revised the jaywalking ordinance to allow people to wander into the roadway whenever they feel it is safe, using their own judgment, to do so. Since then, the pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed in the city.
I guess the assembly is trying to lower the homeless population.
It would be instructional to learn what the victim was wearing. The report said the pedestrian was struck “near 34th Avenue on C Street.” Implicit with that report is the pedestrian was crossing mid-block and not at a crosswalk. The other tragedy associated with this incident is the hapless driver who has to deal with a person unexpectedly walking in front of his vehicle.
Tragic as it is, do people actually use crosswalks safely ?
This is Darwin working.
How many more will die, before the Assembly realizes their judgement was obsured. The Assembly needs to change or delete this law, as it is killing too many people..Or make the change for the summer time hours, because the fall, winter and early spring hours people will be continued to be killed.This accident happened right after sundown/dusk.