MONROE — The electronic signs along U.S. 2 tracking the number of days since the last serious accident on the highway were reset Saturday with the death of Steven T. Johnson.
Johnson, 38, of Bothell, was driving his 1997 Mazda east on U.S. 2 near Old Owen Road when he crossed the centerline and collided with an oncoming tanker truck.
The truck’s driver, an Anacortes man, wasn’t injured.
Washington State Patrol detectives on Monday still were trying to determine what led to the crash, trooper Mark Francis said.
It didn’t appear that Johnson was speeding or driving recklessly, he said. A medical emergency hasn’t been ruled out. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office was expected to do an autopsy today. Johnson was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he died of his injuries.
Crossing the centerline was listed as a factor in 82 traffic deaths statewide in 2008, according to the state Department of Transportation data. Almost one in 10 of all head-on collisions in 2008 was fatal.
The only thing that could have saved Johnson was a centerline divider, said Fred Walser, the chairman of the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition. The group has worked for years to get state and federal officials to turn their attention to the aging highway.
Johnson’s was the 54th person to die on U.S. 2 between Snohomish and Stevens Pass since 1999.
It’s been less than two months since Bruce Ramsey, a 47-year-old corrections officer, was killed at the intersection of the highway and Rice Road in Sultan. His mother has been lobbying for a stoplight at the intersection and lower speed limits.
The coalition rallied for the expansion of the stretch between Monroe and Sultan to four lanes, with a barrier in the middle, similar to what is found on stretches of Highway 9. The expansion is part of the plan to improve safety on U.S. 2 but funding remains an issue, Walser said.
The road wasn’t built to handle the volume of traffic it gets now, and the problem’s only going to get worse as the area’s population continues to grow, he said.
The state Department of Transportation is expected this month to start work on $2 million worth of improvements. That includes, for example, installing a left-turn lane in the Fern Bluff area to reduce the number of crashes there.
“It’s a matter of life and death. Too many people we know are being killed and injured out here,” Walser said.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com
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