Just before 10 a.m., a police car and Volkswagon collided at 8th Ave. and Market St., Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson told us.
Jamieson says initial reports are that there are no serious injuries. Seattle Fire was called to the scene because one of the airbags deployed, Jamieson said.
My Ballard reader Greg says he was a witness to the accident, “A police officer was heading south on 8th, under full lights and sirens.” He says the officer stopped at the intersection, then headed through, and “a woman heading east in the right hand lane, driving a Saturn went through the intersection and hit the cop car on the passenger side.” Jamieson could not confirm the witness reports but says that police are investigating. Traffic was rerouted down 9th Ave. for a time, but the intersection has reopened.
Officer-involved accident at 8th & Marktet
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
In the first picture, it looks like the car is oozing chocolate ice-cream all over the place –yum yum!
A police officer once tried to claim I hit him with his lights on, lucky for me his sergeant was standing on the street corned and saw his officer was trying to go all commando and u-turn across 5 lanes of traffic because living like an action hero is what it all about.
Bottom line, hit an emergency vehicle with its lights on – BOOM – 11 points on the license and a big fat fine!
It looks like I got the car make wrong, it was hard to tell from the front, plus I was trying to see if everyone was OK.
I'm just happy that there were no serious injuries.
The lady better hope they don't check her cell phone records. Additionally if anyone saw her turn down her radio after the accident its and open and shut case to the insurance adjusters. It really means nothing though in the scheme of how bad an accident this could have been. Many drivers haul ass up 8th and down Market…just to sit at the next red light.
See and hear lights and sirens going? PULL OFF TO THE SIDE!
She had to have been really distracted to not see and hear the cop car with the lights and sirens blaring.
[See and hear lights and sirens going? PULL OFF TO THE SIDE! ]
It seems there are a LOT of people that simply don't know this. Almost every time I pull over for an emergency vehicle, some clown just pulls out and drives on past. Yeah, buddy, we were all pulling over to get out of YOUR way, so you could have the road to yourself.
Jeez.
IPhone
I laugh at that because my brother always tells me its the perfect answer to so many quesitons.
Ya, I'd guess a distracted driver on a cellular phone too. Has anyone seen the public service TV ad about texting that is running on UK TV? People, do one thing at a time.
Don't know what it is about that intersection: it seems like people get creamed there all the time. But to hit a cop with his lights on!
Man, I hate it when I'm texting and run into a cop car with it's lights on…omg! wtf! itsux2bu!
Your bottom line is not true, it depends on the circumstances. Similar situation happened with me at Greenwood and Holman. No ticket, no fault.
You don't know the circumstances; why didn't she hear the siren? Does she have impaired hearing? Her vision might have been obstructed and if she had the green light not had an opportunity to stop in time. This typically is not as simple as it appears and happens quite often.
Trust me, I know.
I was wondering what was going on. traffic was self rerouting on other streets besides just 9th. My little side street had more traffic in the 5-10 minutes it took to get a break to back out of my driveway that it's had all month long!
Should she be driving is her hearing is so impaired that she can't hear a siren?
We are just taking a guess at the most likely: she was distracted by an iPhone or other device. It may not be that simple but we are allowed to make assumptions.
Perhaps but it's still not a legitimate excuse. If if a car comes up to an intersection and the light is green but nobody is moving then the driver needs to pull their head out of their ass and look around to figure out why! There's probably a REALLY good reason all the other cars have stopped and golly gee, maybe you should too. Just because the light is green doesn't mean you can go sailing through the intersection without paying attention.
Several times I've been at an intersection stopped – along with all other traffic – for an emergency vehicle only to have some idiot in the next lane go sailing through because the light is green and nearly plow into a fire engine or police car.
Yeah, wouldn't surprise me if she was on the phone. Just had to comment because a similar situation happened to me and I was not at fault but most people immediately make the assumption that it was my fault because the other vehicle is an emergency vehicle.
I don't think it is against the law for deaf people to drive. Not positive though.
The online forums for Seattle PI had a question from a driver in the last month or two, essentially saying that they don't have to pull over unless the emergency vehicle is *in their part* of the road, and wanting support for this ignorant and dangerous idea. Wanted to clarify for people the issue.
Amazing.
The PI blog writer corrected them-ALL vehicles in a roadway must stop, unless the roadway is a divided road.
Watched an elderly lady *turn left in front of an ambulance* at Market & 8th a while back, as she was coming West from down the hill and the ambulance was going East on Market and turning North onto 8th. Cringed and waited for an accident that was narrowly averted.
Seattle drivers seem REALLY bad at this-WTF! People HAVE to stop for emergency vehicles; someone's hurt out there!
Yup, too many drivers seem to only know “Me me me me me me me me”…
I should have said if they cite you in these circumstances.
Wow, some serious assumptions being made here today.
What you don't think that car is oozing chocolate icecream?
I think Seattle drivers are actually really good about this compared to most places. In NYC, people, especially taxis don't even slow down or get out of the way at all. Most other places, people just slow a little and kinda move a little bit, but not all the way out of the way.
Yeah, that's definitely a 2000-2005ish VW Jetta. I just sold mine that looks shockingly like that, tint, wheels, racks and all. Hope that wasn't my old car.
mmmmmmmm chocolate.
It's actually sand to soak up the oil and other fluids that get spilled on the road, but I like the idea that our cars run on chocolate sauce better.
I agree! Anyone who thinks Seattle drivers are bad needs to spend some time on the East Coast!!
That or they mistakenly assume “green means go”!
Deaf and hearing impaired people can legally drive in the U.S.
There are many different reasons for cars to be stopped at an intersection. As you are pointing it out happens with enough frequency that maybe additional steps need to be taken to ensure driver safety when emergency vehicles are running red lights, lest that idiot turns out to be you next time.
Just a few days ago I saw someone driving while wearing earphones. I thought this was illegal!
They were the iPod type so easy to not notice. It was at an intersection where the vehicle had to stop. That's how I saw him.
I think it's legal to have in one ear, but not both.
When riding in a Manhattan taxi I talk to the business associate riding with me, I cannot look ahead. Truly scary. Amazing we get there intact, but it somehow seems to work. I could never drive in Manhattan.
Willy Wonka fuel! Yum! :)
Wouldn't be me. If I come up to an intersection and the light is green but the other cars are all stopped then I'm also going to stop because chances are there's a good reason everyone has stopped. Kind of a common sense thing.
The best step to ensure driver safety is require drivers to receive actual training before getting a license and making the test a real test instead of the absurdly easy “test” they have now. On top of that people who demonstrate their inability to safely drive by causing accidents or racking up multiple tickets should have their licenses taken away. That's how it works in other countries and if you look at the stats almost all other major industrialized countries have fewer accidents for the same number of miles driven! Not only that they manage to have fewer accidents despite having fewer traffic signs, stop lights and cops writing tickets. Go figure.
I got to witness a little driver training once upon a time in Germany. The driver had to get up to speed and come up on two identical curves marked out with cones barely wider than the car. At the last second a light would go on indicating right or left and you had to plow into the turn and not touch a single cone at what looked to be about 40-50 mph. I thought we were watching some rally practice, but my friend said it was just a standard driving school for beginners.
How many of our experienced drivers could pull that off? Maybe half. Maybe.
Then you wouldn't be surprised at how many people get hurt in taxi accidents. Real New Yorkers aren't afraid to tell the cabbie to chill if they're out of control, but they also have a higher threshold of what is out of control.
Could have been me. Iphone on a call. Handsfree.
Yup, German driving tests are really hard. A friend emailed 3 questions from the written exam that were equally as difficult as the driving test SPG mentions above. Our friend challenged us to answer the 3 questions correctly-really tough stuff. I don't think I would have passed.
Another friend from England points out that most people fail the test in that country on the first try. Weeds out lots of fools, and some don't pass until the 3rd attempt.
Driver tests are MUCH harder elsewhere (except for Saudi Arabia)!
Exactly! There's a reason all the great car racers come from Europe and not America. Sorry, NASCAR doesn't really count – driving around an oval track isn't nearly as demanding as Formula 1 or rally racing where you have actual turns to negotiate.
Also explains why the German autobahn has far fewer accidents than American interstates despite speeds that are on average 25-50mph faster. So much for the “speed kills” hogwash parroted by our safety “experts”.
If we had Euro style driving tests in America I suspect we'd have some VERY empty roads.
I moved here from New York in 2006.
Seattle drivers are bad. Really bad.
Slow, stupid, ignorant to right of way rules, completely oblivious to anything happening behind them, creating dangerous situations while trying to be considerate, etc.
By contrast East Coast drivers are alert, aggressive while cautious, and usually understanding of the rules of the road. Sometimes considered rude by those used to a slower lifestyle, but by knowing whose turn it is at a four way stop and actually accelerating when the light turns green they keep things moving, which is more than I can say for inconsiderate Seattle drivers.
Newsflash: Stopping on a four-lane two-way street to allow a jaywalker to get deeper into a dangerous situation while simultaneously and inconsiderately holding up cars behind you is not 'nice'. It's stupid.
Learn to drive.
The initial failure rate and extremely expensive test cost in Germany also results in many unlicensed drivers on the road. I would presume they are more cautious about driving though to lessen their chances of getting caught. They also have a lot of random spot checks for drunk driving and such. There's not enough police to do that here on the road. My guess is stricter US standards will result in more unlicensed people on the road anyway.
Poker,
If you get flamed for this, I'll weigh in on perspective from another part of the country, with a theory on one significant difference.
“Newsflash: Stopping on a four-lane two-way street to allow a jaywalker to get deeper into a dangerous situation while simultaneously and inconsiderately holding up cars behind you is not 'nice'. It's stupid. “
Depends. Keep in mind that in this state ALL intersections are considered crosswalks. When I cross 85 at 20th I'm NOT jaywalking and am in a crosswalk. Something too many people in this town don't seem to realize.
Also can't tell you how many times I've been nearly run over in Manhattan by drivers even though I was in the crosswalk and crossing on a WALK signal! NYC drivers are for the most part complete a-holes.
Ditto, could have been me on the iPhone thanking my broker in NYC for making this Christmas look very merry.
And what's with Seattle drivers turning left at a light with oncoming traffic….pull the f**K into the intersection so more than one car can make the turn whe the light changes!
SeaSpider, No good US rally drivers? Check out the Ken Block video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkNzkutTiGs&feat…
The speeds on the autobahn are much faster than the US in the unregulated stretches, but as soon as there is a posted limit EVERYONE slows down to exactly that limit or a few kmh below since they know that it is limited for a good reason and that there is a good chance of enforcement.
As far as accidents on the autobahn, they do happen less often than here, but when they do they tend to be much worse due to the speed.
We have plenty of unlicensed and uninsured drivers here already, but a more rigorous approach to training everyone would still improve the quality and skills of the drivers on the road. What's wrong with that?
I hear you on the crosswalk thing. When I tell people that they look at me like I'm crazy. Then again those are the same people who go the wrong way around the traffic circle and think it's fine.
Or better yet the people who pull up so far from the light in the left turn lane that they don't trigger the sensor and you get stuck behind them while the other light changes over and over…