Councilmember Morales: ‘No excuse’ for city failing to make streets safer

Another person was struck and killed by a car in SoDo last week. My deep condolences to their friends and family.

These pedestrian and biking deaths are unacceptable because they're completely avoidable. There is no excuse for not creating safer streets and sidewalks. None. pic.twitter.com/F9UtryZ3Fn

- Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (@CMTammyMorales) May 18, 2022

Councilmember Tammy Morales gave a strong statement calling for Seattle to act on its street safety plans following the death of a person biking on 4th Ave S in SoDo last week.

These fatalities are completely unacceptable because they are completely avoidable," she said. There is no excuse for not increasing the safety of our streets and sidewalks for the people of Seattle. No excuse. None. Even in parts of the city where industry thrives, there will be people who cannot or choose not to drive in the city. They deserve to be safe." She then requested a Vision Zero update to hear the status of existing city safety plans.

The safety of Seattleites is at risk, especially if we don't make the investments in safety that we've been talking about for the past decade: protected bike infrastructure, sidewalk improvements, ADA compliance, and more," she added on Twitter. As part of Vision Zero, we have safety measures that have already been designed. I'm not interested in hearing about any more studies."

Meanwhile, a recent update on the city's Rainier Ave S design changes still fails to include desperately-needed bike lanes for the only flat and direct route option between Rainier Valley and downtown.