Federal Way Councilmember Frames Pedestrian Safety Crisis as Needing 'Darwinian' Solution

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

What an asshole

Federal Way Councilmember Jack Walsh is drawing the ire of traffic safety advocates from across Puget Sound, in the wake of comments about pedestrian safety he made Monday night at a council committee meeting. Even as local governments continue to tout a move toward a "safe systems" approach that takes into account the fact that road users of all kinds frequently make mistakes, Walsh's comments illustrated how deeply embedded the idea that pedestrians are to blame for being injured or killed is in today's deeply car-oriented society.

The context was a discussion about a potential federal grant that the City of Federal Way is going after, under the USDOT's Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program. Walsh jumped in on a discussion started by Federal Way Council President Susan Honda, providing a tangent about the behavior of pedestrians in Federal Way, a city dominated by multi-lane arterial roads with long stretches between marked crosswalks.

In 2024, Federal Way added rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) to eight locations with the goal of improving safety, though nothing requires that drivers actually yield to people trying to cross at these locations.

"We have the new crosswalks, the ones with the flashing lights – the ones that are working – and you have people running across the street five, ten feet... they can't take the time to walk [to the marked crosswalk]. How are we going to convince people to use the safety things we've created for them so that they don't get hit by a car," Honda asked Federal Way Senior Traffic Engineer Jason Kennedy.

https://www.theurbanist.org/federal-way-councilmember-frames-pedestrian-safety-crisis-as-needing-darwinian-solution/