1 dead, 2 injured in early morning crash on Rainier Avenue

SEATTLE — One person died and two others were seriously injured in a crash early Saturday on Rainier Avenue South, police said.

The accident happened around 3 a.m. on Rainier Avenue South and South Massachusetts. A passing driver called 911 to report a two-vehicle crash.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) says there are more crashes on Rainier Ave S than any other street in Seattle.

“I put my head on my pillow and I heard the crunch,” said Michael Ng, who lives close to the intersection. “I’ve heard that crunch enough times that I looked up, knew it was a crash, grabbed the phone, and called 911,” he said.

“It's probably the dozenth crash I've seen,” Ng said. He said despite the frequency of crashes he sees on the road, this one was the worst.

“This one, no one walked out of. Because they literally peeled off the roofs like sardine tins,” he said.

The collision happened around 3am Saturday and killed one of the drivers.

The other driver, a 46-year-old man, was seriously hurt. A 25-year-old passenger was also seriously hurt. The Seattle Fire Department had to cut surviving victims out of the vehicles.

Ng said there's just something about Rainier Ave S that makes it more crash-prone -- something the city acknowledges.

SDOT has been working for years to make the road more safe - and last month announced sweeping changes to the city’s speed limit on main roads, with plans to lower most arterial streets to 25 miles per hour.

Last month the city unveiled the lower speed limit on part of Rainier Ave S – now that lower speed limit is in effect in the area from Alaska to Henderson.

The change will extend further north to include the intersection of Rainier and S. Massachusetts too, where the limit is still 30 miles per hour.

The city said it tested the change on sections of Phinney and Greenwood Avenues and found drivers only slowed down a little -- but crashes went down by 34 percent.

“We know that lower speed limits save lives,” said Mayor Jenny Durkan on December 10.

Still some neighbors are unconvinced.

“I don't think it'll make a blind bit of difference honestly,” Ng said.

SDOT said other safety changes will be coming to Rainier Ave S. by 2022 in the area of S. Massachusettes including new signals, curb bumps, and bus lanes.

© 2020 Cox Media Group