Friday marked 14th pedestrian fatality in Anchorage

By
Suzanne Downing
-
44

Since the Anchorage Assembly loosened the laws covering jaywalking, deaths keep piling up on Anchorage roadways.

On Friday night, another occurred when a person was struck by a vehicle on Brayton Drive in South Anchorage, which runs parallel to the Seward Highway.

The pedestrian was in the middle of the road, police reported.

Most of the other pedestrian deaths have occurred in midtown Anchorage and north Anchorage, including downtown.

A year ago, the Anchorage Assembly changed the local law so that most jaywalking is now legal, depending on whether the pedestrian feels it is safe to be in the roadway. Police warned the Assembly to not take this action, but it was done in the name of equity for pedestrians.

Another Anchorage pedestrian jaywalking collision makes 13 in one year, equaling state record

44 COMMENTS

  1. For the SAFETY of EVERYONE, we need to revoke the jaywalking law because it is hazardous to everyone, who thinks they are bigger thn cars, truck etc..

      • No. They’re not.

        Also. That’s like saying planrs taxi too fast on the tarmac. STAY. OUT. OF. THE. WAY.

          • People are driving through fast. Idiots are just walking out in front of moving cars thinking they have the right away and they can win. Maybe you shouldn’t have a drivers license if you have one.

              • No it does not.
                The pedestrian has right of way when they are legally in the road. That means at a cross walk (and that crosswalk exists as all intersections whether it is painted or not). The pedestrian also has right of way in a pedestrian safety zone.
                .
                Responsibility as a pedestrian includes “obeying all traffic laws.” A traffic law they must obey is crossing only at crosswalks. Which means a pedestrian that is jaywalking is violating the law, and loses their right of way. And, where the crosswalk is controlled (walk/dont walk signal) the pedestrian loses their right of way when crossing without a walk signal.
                .
                Nice try though. You were almost there, but you did not actually use the entire sentence of the driver manual.

  3. Gonna have to point out that it is highly unlikely that street people bother obeying laws in the first place.
    You think they are even aware that a jaywalking law was relaxed, or even enforced in the first place?

    It is not the relaxing of the jaywalking law that is causing the problem. The problem is the increased amount of people walking the streets that have no regard for anything other than themselves.

    As much as I appreciate bashing the assembly for one of the many inadequacies they carry with them (and trust me, there are many), I must say that the people who walk the streets and cross them unsafely are fully responsible for the harm they cause to themselves and others. No need to scapegoat the assembly, they have plenty of other things to ridicule them for.

    • Hear hear your exactly right.
      Wearing dark clothes while in the middle of the street and walking at a slow pace is a sure way to keep getting hit.
      Myself and people I know have had close encounters with these people who think they can out hot a car.
      I always told my kids whether you’re right or wrong that big metal monster is going to win stay out of the road get across the road in a short period of time don’t dillydally.

    • But I have to say, after living here for 23 years, the number of times traffic must stop for persons crossing the road at their own pace, not caring if they have a crosswalk or a crossing signal, has gone up exponentially in the last year.

      Just today week I had to hit the brakes for two old ladies thinking it was ok to walk across Lake Otis near Abbott, outside a crosswalk and two women with babies in arms taking their time crossing an icy street in the middle of daytime traffic in midtown.

      From now on, I’m blasting my horn loud and long any time traffic must come to a stop -risking accidents among them- for a fool who believes it’s safe to cross traffic anytime, anywhere.

      It’s the least I can do.

      • I guess any advice I would give to drivers and pedestrians would be to “Get good!”

        Everyone has the capacity for increased situational awareness. Use it.

  7. The leftist Anchorage Assembly is supposedly all about equity. They, of course, in their illogical thinking, extend this notion of equity to pedestrians. Their reality cannot accept the fact that there is zero equity between a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds versus a pedestrian. The Anchorage Assembly is a pack of fools. Stop electing these people to any position of power. Your city will be far better for it.

    • The equity they’re really after is the value you hold in your property. Since just expropriation would be illegal.they have to do it bysubterfuge

  8. Just a few decades ago, when forcing helmet laws, seat belt laws, drinking out of a garden hose laws…….. it was all about “ if it saves just one life “ it’s worth it.
    Now it’s morphed into “ why write a ticket to someone who isn’t going to pay it anyway “
    Ask any police officer you see if they have ever written a ticket to a driver giving money out the car window at a red light

  9. Now the assembly kings and queens will have to make a law that there will be no vehicles driven within city limits because too many people are dying.

    • They already started doing just that last summer by reducing the number of car lanes in downtown Anchorage. They had to do that for the 14 bicycles a day at the expense of thousands of automobiles. You have to understand that the Anchorage assembly is made up of REAL SMART people who live in a bubble of make-believe.

      • Leftists will always find ways to spend your money and time so they can look like they are doing something for the greater good.

  12. The Assembly members should be ashamed they drive to Assembly meetings. Think of the unnecessary carbon footprint! They should all walk to the meetings. And wear black while crossing streets … you know, to show protest of Trump.

  13. Back in the dark ages, when I was a child, the responsible adults of my home town required that all 2nd or 3rd grade school children be instucted in basic pedestrian safety – such as, you know, looking both ways before crossing a street, and keeping the heck out of the way of traffic. Nowadays, based on my observations in Anchorage, I am compelled to suppose that a certain cohort of adults have not advanced beyond first grade.

    Solution? Re-impose a municipal offense for jay-walking and for careless meandering in traffic while afoot. Require APD officers to cite the offenders, for God’s sake! And then subject the offenders to 2nd grade-level remedial instruction on the grave hazards of their idiocies. If that doesn’t work, then nothing will stop the pedestrians from their suicides. If the driver who runs over a pedestrian is found guilty of DUI or reckless driving, then it’s off to the guillotine. This nonsense has to stop.

  14. We should all simply be grateful when we pay those increased car insurance rates. The assembly can feel good about itself for virtue signaling at our expense.

  18. I would of thought Meg Zaletel would of coerced her fellow ASSembly to be a little more concerned about protecting her “cash cow” homeless enterprise she is so successfully running.

    The numbers were growing substantially but losing ground when they are given the message that they are safe on the streets with cars at night in dark clothing.

    Never trust a Democrat in government that is out to help just like the FEMA employee that received orders from high above not to help Trump’s garbage in the wake of a disastrous hurricane.
    The employee got fired immediately but the one who gave the orders…well He will be fired in January.

    • No way!
      Meg is likely thrilled for every injury or death to her livestock. Every time a homeless person is run down, it justifies her call for more funds. A few dead vagrants is a small price to pay in their world. Keep the consultant funds flowing…

  19. This tragic outcome should come as a surprise to absolutely noone. How bout requiring jaywalkers to wear high viz clothing? You see what I just did there? I took a problem that they created and added another stupid unenforceable law to fix it, and make myself feel good at the same time. This kind of insanity plays out at every single assembly meeting.

    • Almost there Fred. Almost.
      Had you have said use taxpayer dollars to give the homeless free hi-vis vests you would have hit the nail on the head. But… problem.
      .
      Sooner or later some vagrant will get hit, and the reason will be they did not have their hi-vis with them at the time. So, the real solution is to put hi-vis vest dispensers on every street corner, and every 100 feet on the longer blocks. This way, everyone can get a hi-vis vest right at the location where they jaywalk.
      .
      And, that will not stop people from getting run down, so we will need to ban motor vehicles on the roads most frequented by the lawbreakers. Make the entirety of downtown a pedestrian mall. Oh, but some vagrant sleeping in the middle of the road will get run down by a delivery truck in the early morning when deliveries are allowed. So, stop all deliveries to the hotels, restaurants and shops. It will all have to be carried in.
      .
      Now… that is the kind of insanity played out at the assembly meetings.

  20. But, if we enforce the jaywalking laws without regard to skin color, race, ethnic background, gender, etc… more vagrant natives will get cited. So, obviously there is discrimination, and the law is prejudiced.
    .
    The obvious solution is to stop enforcing jaywalking laws, then blame the driver when a drunk native walks out into the middle of 5th avenue traffic.
    .
    Instead of fixing the problem, just make it impossible to enforce the law. Easy as pie.

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