It’s been a deadly month for pedestrians in Spokane.
In early June, prominent community member Janet Mann was killed in a fatal traffic accident while crossing a street downtown. Less than a month later, on July 2, a woman riding a Lime scooter was killed in a collision with a car on the Lincoln Street Hill.
In between those two fatal accidents, the Spokane City Council passed the Janet Mann Safe Streets Now! resolution, which aimed to quickly curb traffic fatalities by implementing adaptive design strategies — cheap and easily installed measures aiming to slow traffic. The resolution, however, was nonbinding, which meant that it carried no power to force the city administration to spend money on the asks laid out within it.
At a press conference this morning, held in front of the intersection where Mann was hit, Mayor Lisa Brown signed an executive order committing to some of the requests in the resolution and announced her support of traffic calming measures.
“[Mann] was an advocate for children, she was an advocate for downtown safety, and today we are advocating for improved traffic safety so that we do not have to lose any more of our loved ones to unnecessary traffic related incidents,” Brown said. “While no one deliberately sets out to harm another person when they get behind the wheel of a car or a truck, tragedies like these are too often resulting in the devastating loss of our loved ones and neighbors.”
Brown cited statistics from the Washington State Traffic Commission that state while crashes involving someone walking account for only 4% of overall crashes, they make up 30% of injuries on the road and 40% of fatalities.
“We’ve got to be a great city when it comes to safety for pedestrians and bicyclists,” Brown said. “I firmly believe we can do that.” Brown then listed off the reasons she believes making Spokane more bike- and pedestrian-friendly “is right on so many levels. It makes us safer. It makes us healthier. It’s more accessible. It’s better for the environment. It’s better for building communities. It’s better for all of us.”
Her executive order listed pedestrian safety as the highest priority for City transportation investments and committed her administration to:
- Evaluating options and locations for expedited implementation of Leading Pedestrian Interval, which gives pedestrians at crosswalks the “walk” sign several seconds before the light turns green for cars, giving walkers time and giving drivers more opportunity to notice them.
- Identifying streets where speed limit reductions are necessary to protect road users
- Identifying intersections that could become “No Turn on Red” zones.
- Creating more secure public bike parking at high demand locations — a program that’s already planned, with bike lockers being installed at City Hall this summer.
Brown’s executive order will also install and pilot three adaptive design projects, one in each city council district, and utilize traffic calming funds to hire a consultant to develop policies and help the city integrate adaptive design strategies into the city’s street design standards — both of which were requests in the council’s resolution. The order also directs the Spokane Police Department (SPD) to immediately add two additional automated traffic safety cameras to high-collision intersections and high-speed areas, which was also outlined in the resolution. The order also commits the city to doubling the amount of mobile speed signs that tell you how fast you’re going over the next two years, which goes beyond what council requested.
Standing with council members and community traffic safety advocates behind her, Brown thanked Council Member Zack Zappone for his “tenacity and dedication” in pushing for safer streets, and the rest of the council for their unanimous vote of support for the Janet Mann Safe Streets Now! resolution.
In turn, Zappone thanked Brown, stating, “We’ve been advocating for years and it really took the leadership of Mayor Brown to make this change happen. Council can pass resolutions, but it really is the administration and Mayor Brown’s leadership that’s enacting these changes that we’re going to see a turning point in our city.”
Despite the mutual support, Brown’s executive order didn’t address all of the requests laid out in the resolution. Brown has not yet committed to hiring a project employee to oversee adaptive design measures and staff training, identifying high use bike lanes for priority sweeping and plowing or purchasing armadillos, wheel stops, bollards and other pieces of cheap infrastructure to protect bike lanes.
Neither did Brown have a definitive answer as to what traffic enforcement by SPD officers would look like, after reporting from The Inlander found there had been a sharp decrease in traffic citations in the last three years, but she said her administration had talked with SPD and “enhanced traffic enforcement,” is beginning in tandem with the executive order. “You will see more about that in the coming weeks as we talk about the need to bring back both neighborhood resource officers and traffic officers as part of our budget proposal for next year,” she said. SPD’s dedicated traffic enforcement unit was disbanded due to staffing shortages in 2021, resurrected in 2022 and killed again in January 2023.
Local traffic advocates joined council members in standing with Brown during the conference, including Erik Lowe, from Spokane Reimagined. He is optimistic that Brown is serious about traffic safety, but wants to see her continue to lead a culture shift in encouraging city staff to care about and prioritize street safety.
“It really has to come from the top down. The mayor has to push for change and it has to be consistent. We can’t have it heavy handed in the beginning and then just sort of taper off,” Lowe said. He wants to see better infrastructure and public education about bike lanes. “Public Works put down new flex posts this spring, and already a lot of them are missing. And when they go missing, you just have, what looks to a lot of drivers like two parking lanes, so it’s confusing for people.”
Photos taken by Erik Lowe of parked vehicles, including city-owned and operated vehicles, blocking traffic from bike lanes.
Lowe, who uses social media to notify the public about traffic incidents in the city and improper uses of parking lanes in ways that impede bikers (including by city vehicles), wants to see continued grassroots activism from community members to hold the city accountable and push for more change in their own neighborhoods.
“Demand that change and get these measures implemented,” Lowe said. “Get involved in it. Go to your neighborhood council, go to city council meetings — that’s how you get change.”
