Seattle needs to take pedestrian safety seriously, like our pals in Kirkland.

So…with my new commute I try to avoid traffic on 520 by taking new routes home. Although this generally means it will be a while before I get home, it also lets me check out places throughout the Sound that I’ve never really visited before. This week I drove through Kirkland, which coincidentally is where a whole gaggle of Seattle City Council folks went for a Special Committee on Pedestrian Safety. I’m sure they were looking at why Kirkland does such a better job at pedestrian safety than Seattle, but really the answers are pretty simple.

1. Kirkland (especially in the downtown area) is not afraid to put crosswalks in places where pedestrians want to cross.
2. They also invest in crosswalk crossing aids -whether flags for pedestrians to carry or crosswalks that lightup when someone wants to cross.
3. Kirkland is hard core at policing its pedestrian safety rules. Just driving through Kirkland during rushhour, cars really respected the crosswalks.

Anyway, I’d also suggest if Seattle wants to get improve pedestrian safety that it gets serious about enforcing its rules and start making pedestrian improvements to roads that need help. For example, my neighborhood tried to get Bridging the Gap funds for a crosswalk for the intersection of NE 80th St and 35th Ave NE. But unfortunately it was rejected. Perhaps if the city council wants to take a real trip to look at pedestrian safety issues, it might want to visit sites it is rejecting within Seattle.

(Photo of a Kirkland crosswalk)