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.
And it’s working.
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.
Donald
You asked the right question on what were they wearing.
I have in countered numerous dark clothed pedestrians walking in the street that they feel they have that right.
Can’t hardly see them in the dark.
The assembly will probably have all traffic stoped for them now remember who did this everybody.
Have had 10+ interactions with dark clad jaywalkers rhis year.
Well pointed out.
Good point. Wearing a headlamp at night hugely increases visibility.
Tragic as it is, do people actually use crosswalks safely ?
Yes. Most do.
If they did not, you would be hearing about a lot more pedestrian deaths.
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.
Hmmm….
VERY well-lit roadway, middle of rush hour (even for a day after a holiday), approaching a major intersection, and most likely driving well under the ‘dangerous’ speed limit, good road surface conditions as within cold, clear weather and snow and ice-free road surfaces at the time.
Also, the major intersection where crossing WITH the light could be accomplished safely only TWO blocks South.
Not making light of this tragedy within the least, but looking at the image on KTUU’s website, it does not appear that the vehicle in question was attempting to turn left onto 34th Avenue, so the pedestrian must have been far enough away from the actual sidewalk, and far enough INTO the roadway, so as to have been struck by said vehicle.
If the walkway (sidewalk) was relatively clear, as it appears so, why was the pedestrian ON the roadway?
Were they attempting to cross, or were they walking in the lane itself, and if so, why?
Did they veer further into the lane unexpectedly?
The area is well-lit, so even an individual in dark clothing could be seen within normal circumstances.
There are never details as to the why and how of such an incident.
Simply that a ‘vehicle’ struck a ‘pedestrian’.
It’s just simple concept of … “Natural Selection”
Make Bad Choices results in real consequences!
It’s hard to determine who you’re pointing the finger at. The pedestrian, the driver, the Assembly and/or the voters? Perhaps all of the above?
This is on Suzanne LaFrance and the Assembly. They changed the laws. They stopped enforcement. And, really, the people who just walk out into traffic without looking because they have a strange belief that somehow they have the right of way? No. You don’t. The two-ton vehicle driving at 45 miles an hour towards you will win every time. The bodies keep stacking up. Next: blaming law-abiding Anchorage-ites and enacting draconian traffic laws that punish those who drive.
LaFrance is INCOMPETENT!!! If she can throw that at her predecessor . it fits her hen better!!!!!!!!!
I dare say that rational thought, which takes into account the finer details and most current changes to the Anchorage Ordinances, does not form part of a pedestrian’s decision-making process when out in the cold and dark, and oftentimes being inebriated. But cast blame wherever you see a Liberal target, if it makes you feel better.
This isn’t about the “finer details.” You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. If you enact legislation that allows (encourages?) walking in traffic, then it is squarely on the shoulders of LaFrance, Zalatel, Constant, Rivera and the rest. It also IS the fault of the drunk that was hit, despite his decision-making process. It’s cold and dark in Anchorage for everyone. He made a choice and got the most likely result. It isn’t casting blame. It’s stating fact.
It’s comes back to bite you dog as you Complain about the same stuff from the right.
You’re just a confused puppy looking for anything the right does.
One wonders, how much were the APD and the muni’s prosecutors enforcing the now-defunct jaywalking ordinance? My impression is that there was little enforcement of that ordinance, if any, but does anyone know how many citations were written by the APD for jaywalking during, let’s say, the year 2022? What were the dispositions of those citations? What was the amount of the fine, and what the muni’s effort and the rate of success in collecting those fines? The Anchorage municipal assembly needs to be called to account for this information.
Anchorage has a burgeoning population of pedestrians, particularly in midtown, who daily and obstreperously ignore the physics of vehicular mass and speed. The penalty for their errors in judgment is their own serious physical injury and death. Of these people, some are Walking Under the Influence and/or suffering, more or less, from some manner of psychosocial pathology. Since our liberal and tolerant government will no longer enforce a “drunk in public” ordinance or house the mentally ill, we drivers cannot expect these folks to look both ways for traffic before staggering or darting across a busy street.
A full discussion of this problem could go on for hours, and no the earnest idiots on the muni’s assembly will wear us out with their blathering before settling on a nonsensical solution. Once the speed limit on C Street and other midtown thoroughfares is rolled back to 20 mph, for example, the heedless pedestrians will deemed to be ‘safe’ and free to blunder out into traffic.
As for reinstituting the jaywalking ordinance, well, heck, yes! (The wretched assembly will not do it, of course.) The fine for the first offense must be at least $50, and $200 for the second (and upward) offense. The APD should then be instructed to write at least 500 jaywalking citations in the first month, which will be as difficult as finding and pulling up 500 dandelions in July. Collect the fines from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, if necessary. The word will quickly get out to the sentient pedestrian: Stop jaywalking in Anchorage!
Jeep Gladiators are nice trucks, hope there wasn’t too much damage. Would this fall under collision, comprehensive, or maybe uninsured inebriated pedestrian? Either way, there’s a deductible to pay.
Your empathy really shines through, Sir.
I’m not the bad guy here. The victims are actually people who have made bad choices. From substance abuse to not using a crosswalk.
Unfortunately, this is a vehicle pedestrian accident. Unless there is extensive evidence demonstrating the driver is without fault, it is assumed the driver is at fault.
Sometimes, if the police report, and accident investigation support it, the driver may get the insurance to fully cover the repairs. But… that may take some legal action on the part of the driver. Tough to say. A lot depends on the police investigation.
Just toss another sacrificial body on the funeral pyre of the woke ideology of the Anchorage Assembly.
Having laws doesn’t stop people being idiots
Just watch how drivers and pedestrians behave on the roads. No big mystery here. No one is driving your car but you, make good choices. If you are walking do the same. Poor choices produce poor outcomes.
It would be nice if there was more information, such as was this person drunk? Was the driver? My guess is that this person was faded and perhaps an indigenous person who was raised outside of the big city. I feel for the deceased and the driver that will have to live with the stain of regret for the rest of their days. Call me a racist, or a xenophobe. I challenge you to go to the midtown Walmart in the middle of the day. Please report how safe you felt?
Why do most people call for more government regulation here? Isn’t this a personal responsibility decision of the people walking across the road?
I do not know how many people I have had to swerve to miss, especially on 6th Avenue heading towards Merrill Field airport area. These people walk down the middle of the road as if they own it. I have come extremely close to hitting individuals due to them wearing dark clothing and being in the middle of the road.
Would I feel bad if I hit one of them? Most likely, but I understand that this is their decision, so I doubt I would lose a lot of sleep over it. I practice safety when crossing the street by using designated crossings with lights and looking both ways. I have also done this when having a few drinks downtown without incident. I also follow the posted speed limits and drive according to current road conditions, meaning I slow down when the road conditions dictate that I should. Why do these people get special consideration when a majority of the people follow common sense?
Beg for more laws; the government will be only too happy to oblige.
Liberal logic 101:
Too many vagrants natives are being cited for jaywalking. Obviously, the jaywalking laws are racist.
Now, too many vagrant natives are being killed while jaywalking. Obviously, the drivers are racist.
Crosswalks are white privilege.
The Assembly should change the law back to crossing at the light, but that won’t stop pedestrian deaths as people cross mid-street without that law in place anyway. People who cross at the light do it for safety reasons. In Anchorage, we have many gamblers; they wear dark clothing and think they can make it across 4 icy lanes of traffic on foot or a bike. I’m not sure what the answer is for bad decisions. The only thing I could imagine is building elevated crosswalks over the streets where we have the majority of pedestrian deaths, there is still no guarantee that the gamblers would use them.
Time to start handing out safety vests with the crack pipes and syringes.
The problem is the liability.
If the law read that jaywalking was illegal, then the driver has an out for liability if a pedestrian steps (for whatever reason) into the road outside a crosswalk.
As it stands with the law that was changed by the Assembly, no matter what, the driver may be responsible.
And shifting that to the driver is asinine. It needs to be changed.