In Snohomish County, pedestrian fatalities continue a troublesome trend

EVERETT — Despite increased effort to improve traffic safety, it can be dangerous for a pedestrian to co-exist with motorists in Snohomish County.

Depending on where you walk in the county, statistics show pedestrian deaths show little sign of declining. In 2024, there were 13 pedestrian fatalities in the county, continuing roughly the same trend since 2018.

In Everett, the rate of crashes involving pedestrians has increased since 2020.

In 2024, seven of Everett’s 14 traffic fatalities involved pedestrians, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

“We saw in 2022 a definite increase in fatal crashes,” said Everett City Traffic Engineer Corey Hert. “When we talk about overall pedestrian and serious injury crashes, you can see a pretty substantial increase since that COVID time frame.”

In 2022, Everett had 22 traffic fatalities, 10 of which were pedestrians, the WTSC reported.

After the spike in 2022, pedestrian fatalities in Everett decreased slightly; however, they still account for a significant portion of traffic fatalities.

The latest fatality happened in July, when a pedestrian was killed by a motor vehicle along Casino Road and 5th Avenue West. Police called it a “complicated incident” and no charges have been filed.

Crashes involving pedestrians and motor vehicles make up 3% of all crashes in Everett, but they account for 31% of all injury and fatal crashes.

“When it comes to fatalities, they’re over half the crashes in Everett,” Hert said.

Factors like speed, vehicle size, time of day and lack of pedestrian infrastructure, like crosswalks and sidewalks, contribute to the increased number of pedestrian fatalities.

Since the force of a crash increases with vehicle speed, the difference between 20 and 40 miles an hour can impact whether a pedestrian survives a crash, according to WTSC External Relations Director Mark McKechnie.

As vehicles increased in size over the last 20 years, they pose more risk to pedestrians. The height of a vehicle changes the physics of the collision with a pedestrian, McKechnie said.

“If the person was struck, and the hood height was below the person’s hips, then they’re more likely to go up onto the vehicle, which dissipates some of the force,” he said.

Pedestrians absorb more of the force from the crash and are more likelt to be knocked backwards when hit by tall, blunt vehicles, according to McKechnie.

Most pedestrian crashes occur between dusk and dawn when lighting conditions are darker and visibility of pedestrians is low. Wearing light colored or reflective clothing can reduce pedestrians’ risk, McKechnie said.

According to McKechnie, routes like U.S. 99, where there tends to be less sidewalks or crosswalks that are marked and signaled and traffic is moving faster, are dangerous for pedestrians.

“Roads like that are these legacy state highways,” McKechnie said. “You used to be driving in between towns, and now those towns and cities have sort of grown together.”

In Everett, the most common pedestrian crash type is a dash crash, where a non-motorist enters the roadway and is struck by a vehicle whose view is not obstructed, Hert said.

“The pedestrian is clearly visible but either failing to yield to the vehicle, or the vehicle is failing to yield to the pedestrian,” he said.

Other common crash types include signal violations either by a motorist or a pedestrian, waiting to cross or darting out, where a non-motorist entered the roadway and was struck by a vehicle whose view was obstructed.

The rise in pedestrian fatalities led the city to examine road design and traffic safety measures under the Vision Zero Everett Initiative, which aims to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes by 2050. Pedestrians are the focus of the initiative, according to Hert.

Phase one began in September, 2024 and focused on creating a high risk network of areas where majority of crashes occur. These areas include four intersections and 12 segments of road, according to Vision Zero Everett data released in May.

Currently, phase two is reviewing those areas and looking at countermeasures for individual locations and across the city.

“What we find is bicycles don’t get hit in bike lanes, and pedestrians don’t get hit on sidewalks,” Hert said.

The initiative will tackle streets with missing sections of sidewalks through sidewalk infill projects.

Extending sidewalks and corner curbs protects pedestrians by slowing down turning vehicles, moving people out further into the driver’s line of sight and shortening the distance pedestrians must cross.

“When you move those curbs closer together, for the pedestrian you’re reducing their exposure by that much,” McKechnie said.

The city is looking at other pedestrian safety measures like improved lighting on arterial streets, more protected left turns and lower speed limits.

“We’re doing a speed management plan where we’re evaluating every speed limit on every arterial in the city of Everett,” Hert said.

Most of Everett’s fatal crashes occur on or within a half block of a couple high-speed arterials, including Evergreen Way, Broadway, Rucker Avenue and Everett Mall Way.

In 2024, the Legislature passed a bill expanding the use of automated traffic safety cameras. The cameras detect speed violations for state routes, other than limited access highways, within city limits and in areas designated by local jurisdictions as having high crash risks.

“I know that some areas of Snohomish County are increasing their use of them,” McKechnie said. “That really was motivated by really getting drivers to obey the speed limit, especially in areas where pedestrians are likely to be”

Pedestrian deaths nearly doubled over the last decade in Washington. In 2024, there were 155 pedestrian deaths, an 80.2% increase since 2015.

“As a state, as a country, this is a universal issue. Pedestrian crashes are increasing,” Hert said. “The last two years, we have seen a decline in pedestrian crashes in Everett, but they continue to be pervasive, and we’re doing what we can to solve the problem.”

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com; X: @JennaMillikan