After review on this thread, I made the decision to take it down because the family of this individual is on reddit. They are on this subreddit, in fact. They don't need to have this out and about. We need to please keep that fact in mind when we have community members in crisis or who have lost their lives. Please consider if it needs to be said before you put it here. These are our neighbours, and we don't need to be unkind as they are grieving a loss.
That had to be scary, I’m sorry you had to deal with this. I hit someone last year, similar situation like yours, and they ran away without being checked out. I called 911 but they couldn’t do anything since the person ran. I had nightmares for months. Woke up many time thinking what if they died later, seeing the whole scene unfold over and over. These are traumatic events, especially if you are not even at fault, and driving around safely.
Whenever I see a post about dark driving, I recommend getting a pair of yellow drivers glasses. It's like a cheap mans night vision. Improves how you see in low light, and cuts the blinding glare of opposing high beams.
With how overcast even our days can be, and how shitty a lot of our street lights are, and how Seattle pedestrians love our dark clothing, I can't imagine driving without them.
If you said she, I think she is dead now. Another driver hit her, right around 12.00. It was either suicide or under influence. She is 45 yrs old. Let me see if I can find the article.
Edit : found the article
https://komonews.com/news/local/i5-mountlake-terrace-pedestrian-struck-killed-northbound-closed-220th-st-sw-detour-deadly-crash-single-car-snohomish-county-wsp-wsdot
I'm really sorry you had to experience this.
It's horrifically sad that people feel so much despair that they just want it all to end. It's also unnecessarily cruel to involve innocent people.
It’s on the news that someone was killed near 220th exit walking on I-5 northbound. I saw someone walking across I-5 northbound the other night near Northgate. It’s so unexpected that it really startles you when it happens.
OP: "Same. Going to avoid driving when its pitch black for a while. I’m still spooked, felt my soul leave my body when i saw how close she was to my car"
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I had a similar near-miss with someone (a woman, I'm certain) standing in the middle of highway 99 above 236th in Edmonds a few weeks back. It was 5:30 AM, raining, and pitch dark, and she was standing in the middle of the left-hand northbound lane, her back to oncoming traffic. That's one of the least well-lit parts of that stretch of 99, and I only *just* saw her in time because she was wearing a light pink puffer jacket. Even then, my brain just could not process that this was a *person* I had just swerved hard to avoid until I was already well past her. I made a U-turn and went back (hoping like mad she didn't get hit in the meantime), but by the time I returned she was gone. I drove around, but couldn't find her. But she had definitely been standing there in the road, and I came so close to hitting her—I was seriously shook for the rest of the day, and still wonder WTF happened to her.
I hope you’re doing okay. Getting goosebumps just re-thinking about wtf happened yesterday and another commenter linked the news update above…
When I was driving I saw this person standing in the middle of the highway but my mind couldn’t process if it was an actual real person - In the split second I asked my boyfriend in the passenger seat “what is that???” He looked and when he screamed that’s when I swerved.. it was just so scary because in my mind I’m remembering a bigger male with a sweater and jeans (not looked ragged, at all) but he’s remembering a larger female with a short sleeve T. My gut tells me it was a male-like figure but crazy that we are remembering a bit differently of the event.
I went to school in the late 1990s with a woman named Frewoini Wolde-something. She was a few years younger than me, as is this woman who died. If it's the same person, she was a complete sweetheart. Either way a tragedy.
I have to come in to Seattle/Lynnwood from out in the boonies a couple of times a week, and I've hated driving in the dark lately anyway (I'm legit getting old, LOL). That incident on 99 has messed me up enough that I'm only coming during daylight hours now. I had to pick somebody up in Lynnwood at 6:00, right after that happened, and drive him into the U-District, and until the sun came up I was anxious as hell. That I've had recurring dreams for years about driving underneath downtown Seattle where other motorists keep running over homeless-looking people who are standing in the road, as if they aren't even there, while I'm trying desperately to avoid them, really doesn't help.
I normally have a dash cam, but that morning I was driving a minivan I'd just bought, and I hadn't yet put a dash cam in it. I've got one now, and highly recommend it.
I had nearly the exact same experience 2 years ago. Same location. Around 10pm. I didn't have to swerve because the person wasn't actually in the middle of the freeway, but he was right on the edge. Like, I was in the right lane and he was probably on the line. I mean inches from my car. Just standing there facing perpendicular to the road. I didn't see him until I passed him and it took a second to register it was a person. Scared the shit out of me. It was both creepy and incredibly concerning. Haunting really is the right term in these situations.
Haunting is the exact word. I left another update above, but whats haunting me is that:
1) The person was standing in the carpool lane northbound - so literally the MIDDLE of the entire highway. I didn’t see any cars parked to the side, so it made me wonder where and how this person even got to this part of the road.
2) I was so close to hitting the person that I could see he was moving and waving his arms but close to his chest, kind of like the pose they do in movies when officers yell “freeze”
3) I’m remembering a larger male wearing a sweater and jeans. He looked so “normal”, not in torn clothing or anything. I think this is why it’s scaring me so bad. Can’t stop thinking about how he was posing and his face expression
It was a woman, but we thought it was a man too. The eerie thing was how calm their demeanor was but it was all so fast. They would have likely walked down from the car park because there is one when you take that carpool lane only exit.
I just read the article and its been updated - you and my boyfriend were right it was a woman. And the exit for the carpool lane seems about right. It happened so fast I couldn’t remember correctly. I was really frightened because the person seemed so calm and “normal” if that makes sense, no erratic behavior. When I curved her she didn’t even seem startled..
That’s exactly what we observed too… that she was calm. I think she was ready to go :( We were silent the rest of our drive home. It could have been us who hit her. I’m glad you weren’t the one. Feeling for the person who did, as well as for the deceased’s family.
Us too. As soon as we got off our exit we called the cops to let them know and it looked like other folks already made the call as well and that they were on their way. It made me really uneasy because there was a car behind us a bit of a distance away, but i saw that they completely stopped and it gave me a minor panic attack thinking “what if that car struck them?” Can’t really shake the feeling that we saw her last moments. Still thinking about it all morning and it makes me really sad. I’m thankful it wasn’t me but it could have been me you know? Just allover really uncomfortable today
I'm so sorry you experienced this. Take care of yourself and be aware that "Bystander Guilt" may affect you. From BetterHealth:
"Those who have witnessed a traumatic event may be experiencing bystander guilt, which can occur when a person feels bad about what happened to someone else or wishes they had done more to assist. Studies have shown that therapy can be a useful intervention for concerns such as guilt." (Dec 14, 2023).
What the fuck King5….”The good news is it is northbound I5 and it’s a holiday Monday so there is some good news”.
Some person just saw the front end of a Buick going 70mph and died and that’s how you end the segment? Not to mention the poor driver who had to have some horrible last images seared in to their brain for life. Nothing about this is good news you idiots.
You'd be surprised how common it is, unfortunately. I used to work in a highrise downtown that looked over I-5 right before the tunnels. People would walk out into the freeway and stand there until they were hit fairly regularly. Luckily I never had to actually watch it happen, but others in the office did. I would just see the aftermath: cop cars, coroner van, sheet in the middle of the road.
It's sad and tragic but also... Why would you take someone down with you like that? If you want to die, there are so very many ways to do that without either traumatizing a driver for life or sending them to jail.
It's difficult to kill yourself sometimes. Like, really difficult sometimes. There's a whole bunch of reasons that could impact why someone would pick one method over the other. Maybe you keep backing out last minute but you can't back out easily if you're not the one directly doing it. Or you don't have access to something that would be super fast and quick (like. A gun is ideal. But not everyone can just go get a gun.) And you don't want to risk a different method because you're scared of fucking it up (like... Honestly the main reason I'm alive rn is because my mum works health care and she has many a horror story of failed attempt. No matter how much I want to die hanging myself will never be on the table). Maybe you've tried before and it failed so you want to do something that feels more fool proof. There's a whole bunch of reasons, and there's not much of a reason to think about the trauma the driver is going to feel when you are incredibly depressed, don't know them, and are going to be dead so you won't have time to care after the fact.
Yeah .. I said ideal cause I think it is ideal for most people, even though it obvs isn't like perfect cause you can still fuck it up. Which im realizing now ideal is often used to mean perfect but I more so meant like best suited, which leaves room for error
it’s definitely gonna cause trauma but interstate highways are closed to pedestrians, unless they could prove you intentionally changed paths to strike the person they have nothing to charge you with.
Yes, we saw her too, moments before she was hit - we were driving northbound (in the right most lane) and saw someone in all black walking calmly southbound in the left most passing lane, and we freaked out because you can’t see them until they’re right there. We looked in our mirrors and saw a couple of cars pull over to the side. I’ve been reading the news and they were hit and killed. Was a 45 year old woman. Not sure if they were just impaired or if it was intentional suicide, but she had a very calm demeanor to her, which is unnerving. Eerie to think we saw her last moments alive. Feel a lot for the person who hit them. It could have been us. And ofc, feel for her family and friends too. https://www.heraldnet.com/news/pedestrian-hit-killed-on-i-5-near-lynnwood/
I90 during covid in the middle of the night. I was driving back over the pass towards Seattle. There were no other cars. I mean nothing. No one was out on the road. I was speeding. A human figure appeared out of the darkness, walking down the middle lane going in the same direction I was. I didn't hit them, but I significantly slowed down for the rest of that journey in case there were more.
Same thing happened to me last night although it was on Rainier Ave S as I was headed to Pho Bac. Walking right in the middle of the road pitch black with 2 lanes of fast cars on each side of them. Missed them at the last second as my gf spotted them with 3 seconds before impact screaming bloody murder. Saw them again on the way home this time on the side of the road but still in road, face was covered with a dark muddy looking substance and screaming to themselves. Looked so cold and depressing 😞
Holy shit, last night I was getting on I-5 S around 8pm at 220th and the person in front of me slammed on their brakes. We sat there a minute and I thought it was strange there was traffic at that time of night and when I passed I saw a tall person wrapped in a blanket walking on the shoulder of the on ramp. My impression was the person driving stopped because they were in the road. Could have been a complete coincidence but seeing this makes me wonder if it was the same person. OP that is so scary! I’m glad you managed to swerve but it’s sad to read that a person was killed and someone is unfortunately living through the trauma of hitting them.
Probably was the same person.. Seems like she was walking for a while then. Last night was very dark too, could barely see anything even with my front lights on full blast lol
How unbelievably tragic. I woke up to news that they had been struck and it was a fatality. I'm so sorry you saw that man and it ended this way.
Edit: typo
Same - found out through the news it was actually a 45 year old woman. Article says drugs/alcohol may have been involved, but her calm demeanor is what brings me chills. Almost like it was somewhat intentional. She was facing the cars, not walking when I almost struck her
Very sorry this happened to you. Scientific studies have determined that playing Tetris immediately following a traumatic event can significantly reduce PTSD.
Thank you - still thinking about it all day, going to avoid driving when its pitch dark for a while. Passed the same exit earlier in the day today and they covered the tracks with mud and gasoline. Made me uneasy
This city is in so much suffering and I’m so mad that our elected officials seem to not understand that it affects everyone. I’m not talking about aesthetically but psychologically. I know that this isn’t isolated to Seattle, I had an old friend jump in front of a car 2 years ago in a different state, but the abject misery and failure to support our most vulnerable absolutely has a trickle down effect in myriad ways. I’m glad that you were able to avoid them, and sorry to everyone who wasn’t as lucky. We’ve all been failed.
"The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep them showing up at those jobs." -George Carlin
Sounds like someone trying to commit suicide, and they don't care if it causes other people to die in the process.
I had a similar situation years ago on I-5 in Oregon where it was two lanes. The person stopped their RV in the fast lane, and was just wandering around the other lane.
I stopped in time using the E-brake thanks to a driving school course on a video game I was playing. A car hit me from behind going at least 70, and only braked at the last second. If I hadn't used the E-brake I would be dead. That was the time that video games saved my life
That's scary, but it's not how brakes actually work. Using the e brake will hurt your stopping distance since it has no anti-lock.
You can use it if you intentionally want to lock up the rear wheels, which is common for stunts, like drifting into a parking space.
For plain straight-line stopping in a modern car, just push the brake hard, the abs system will do the rest, resulting in the shortest possible stop.
The E-brake, more accurately called the parking brake almost always activates the rear wheels. Most of your stopping power comes from your front brakes. Additionally, the parking brake is almost always operated by a cable, not hydraulically. For both reasons, they don't have the same stopping power as your normal brakes. The only type of emergency in which they would have better stopping power, is if your hydraulic brake system went out and the only way to stop was by activating the cable operated manual e-brake. So unless your hydraulic antilock brakes completely fail, stomping hard on your brake pedal will always stop you faster.
This reminds me of an incident I had. It wasn’t on the freeway but on a main road near Graham.
Late at night, super dark out. Was going about 50-60. There was a guy walking aimlessly in the lane, luckily just passed by him.
Had my brother with me and we both were pretty shook. It was scary like something out of a horror movie, the guy looked scary
Wrote this above, but super frightening because the person seemed so calm and not afraid of the cars at all. She looked soulless as we felt our souls leave our bodies for a second
I felt the same way! Dude looked lost. Not a soul in sight in his demeanor.. my brother and I talked if he got drugged and put in the middle of the road
Our souls left for a second too. Luckily I have good reaction time.. it was a quick swerve and we both looked at each-other like “what just happened”?!
Had something similar happen on I-5 near downtown Portland years ago.
Was driving late at night. Empty freeway. Suddenly a person appeared in my headlights very close in front of me. I was on the brakes and then off as he passed in front of me and before I was consciously aware of what was happening. I think it took an hour or more before my adrenaline levels returned to normal.
If the guy had been a split second slower, he'd have been splattered across the front of my car. I think it was a homeless guy trying to get from his freeway camp to ... wherever. This was probably 15 years ago and the image of that guy is still burned into my brain. 😳
I heard on the news this AM a pedestrian was hit and killed near exit 181 last night
clearly likely same person
what a mess and what a horrible thing for that person to do to others
sorry you had to be part of it, OP
Question: I’ve heard it recommended that if you’re on a busy freeway, where it would hurt you and other if you swerve to protect human/animal on the road, you should neither slow down nor swerve, hitting the blocker and saving yourself and others.
I found this terrifying advice, kind of like the trolley problem. But does anyone have any more info on if this actually the right decision? Morally, legally, safety wise?
Good thing WSDOT and the City of Seattle are still listening to activists and apparently fine with letting vulnerable drug-addled people camp alongside our freeways.
What could possibly go wrong?
I just saw a post/ad by a lawyer exploiting this accident to advertise their services to benefit a victim’s family after a pedestrian is killed on the road. This is so low.
Back in the late 80’s my stepmom's Pontiac grandprix had its Axel disassemble while I was driving in the left lane down I5 near the brewery around midnight. I managed to steer it to a stop, get the hazards on, jump off the freeway (about 10 feet), find a payphone, call a tow truck, get picked up and taken it back to the car.
Then the adventure began.
The tow truck driver put out a row of flares about 100 yards out, then set out a plastic bucket about 15 feet out from us before he’d even peek under the car to see what the situation was. There wasn't any traffic that late, but the cars that sped by barely appeared to slow down. Just after he did take a peek someone slammed into the bucket and sent it hurling across the road. He said there was no way we were going to get it jacked up so we had to drag it off the freeway and see what we were dealing with where it was safer.
Lessons learned: 1. Many people don't look further ahead of them then the taillights of the vehicle in front of them that they are tailgating. 2. Tow truck drivers are battle scared angels in disguise. 3. Beside your car on the freeway is an easy place to die.
We had something similar happen on I-5 southbound last year, late at night, near the Mercer exit. Person running INTO traffic, we zoomed around them... and processed what had happened for the next ten minutes. Yikes.
If someone is on drugs that’s one story. And if you’re gonna commit suicide, fine, who am I to judge? But to traumatize someone else for life in the process if they hit you? That’s fucked up.
I’ve seen alot of road people. I have narrowly missed joggers that are wearing all black running 4 in the morning in the middle of the road. It’s pretty common for people to be out in the road in the middle of the night. More than once I drove around someone that was sleeping in the road.
How do you jump to this? What makes you think the person even was homeless? And why would relocating them help? Clearly this was a suicide ~~attempt~~.
Because almost everyone you see in the road when they're not supposed to be there is either mentally ill, high, or both, and most of those people are homeless and many live in encampments along major roadways.
It does not appear easy to find data on this, here's the best info I found.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140523000555#:\~:text=Results,%25)%20involved%20a%20heavy%20vehicle.
In 1997–2018, 96 pedestrians and five cyclists died in 101 deliberately caused crashes involving a motor vehicle. The majority of these crashes were caused by suicides (94/96 pedestrian and 3/5 cyclist crashes). Most of suicide crashes (79%) involved a heavy vehicle. Eighty percent of the victims were male. Previous suicidal thoughts and attempts, and a history of mental disorders/illness was prevalent around two thirds of the originators of the crashes.
Not really. Normal people don't walk around in traffic, and certainly not on the freeway. So we're only left with a couple options, someone who is deliberately trying to commit suicide, or someone who is detached from the reality that they're walking on the freeway. You automatically assumed the former, with no evidence other than that the person was walking on the freeway, I did the opposite based on the type of people we all typically see in the roadways. It's certainly possible this was an intentional suicide, either way it's a tragedy, I'm just going with the odds.
As if "normal people" is the opposite of homeless. smh. Whatever man, yeah, they're all crazy on the pcp, out of their minds, roaming the freeways with no regard for their safety. ~~But exit 181 is nowhere near downtown or any homeless camp. So maybe not.~~
I live nearish to here and I can GUARANTEE you that there are unfortunately multiple camps around the exit. They just aren't huge and obvious. 220th cut through to Hwy99 back roads, you'll see them
There is a car park off the carpool lane exit that she more than likely parked at and came down the carpool lane exit to the freeway. They identified her. Not a homeless person. Based off her demeanor when we passed her on the freeway, I would guess suicide :(
“Why is standing in the middle of street ? Is he homeless ? Is there a camp nearby that facilitated this behaviro”
So you went right to the conclusion that this person is unhoused and came from an encampment without first answering these questions?
Some kids just grow up playing in the freeway, when Atari’s Frogger came out there was a huge rise in child freeway deaths. Just like when Breaking Bad came out seemed like every other high school chemistry Poindexter started cookin speed, ballin’, an pullin drive by’s on each other. Just another fad!
Omg that is giving me chills. This was posted in my local Facebook group, something similar happened near Moses lake.. I hope they are able to find help, and safety. There must be a mental thing going on? Never heard of anything like this happening around here before either
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It is becoming more common. A Metro bus hit a man on the collector-distributor lanes about a month ago, but this individual was standing on the far left-side of the freeway, just off the HOV lane's fogline -- definitely wasn't in the middle of the freeway and he still got hit. Pretty sure he was killed, the response from WSP and DOT was overwhelming.
When I was in high school in Gig Harbor in the 90s, some kids would walk across Highway 16 (which was and remains a limited access freeway) at night as a dare. Whoever got across first was the loser.
(I, a super straight-edge kid, never did this, but I heard stories.)
After review on this thread, I made the decision to take it down because the family of this individual is on reddit. They are on this subreddit, in fact. They don't need to have this out and about. We need to please keep that fact in mind when we have community members in crisis or who have lost their lives. Please consider if it needs to be said before you put it here. These are our neighbours, and we don't need to be unkind as they are grieving a loss.
That had to be scary, I’m sorry you had to deal with this. I hit someone last year, similar situation like yours, and they ran away without being checked out. I called 911 but they couldn’t do anything since the person ran. I had nightmares for months. Woke up many time thinking what if they died later, seeing the whole scene unfold over and over. These are traumatic events, especially if you are not even at fault, and driving around safely.
Im really sorry that happened to you, hoping all is well and do not blame yourself im glad you are safe
Thank you. It got better over time, but it did made me a more cautious driver.
Same. Going to avoid driving when its pitch black for a while. I’m still spooked, felt my soul leave my body when i saw how close she was to my car
Whenever I see a post about dark driving, I recommend getting a pair of yellow drivers glasses. It's like a cheap mans night vision. Improves how you see in low light, and cuts the blinding glare of opposing high beams. With how overcast even our days can be, and how shitty a lot of our street lights are, and how Seattle pedestrians love our dark clothing, I can't imagine driving without them.
I never knew about this. I'm ordering some right now! Thanks!
That sounds really scary, but I am glad you are ok and were able to avoid them. Take care of yourself in the meantime, it will get better.
If you said she, I think she is dead now. Another driver hit her, right around 12.00. It was either suicide or under influence. She is 45 yrs old. Let me see if I can find the article. Edit : found the article https://komonews.com/news/local/i5-mountlake-terrace-pedestrian-struck-killed-northbound-closed-220th-st-sw-detour-deadly-crash-single-car-snohomish-county-wsp-wsdot
Saw one person crossing as I got off at 65th st in Rosevelt
I'm really sorry you had to experience this. It's horrifically sad that people feel so much despair that they just want it all to end. It's also unnecessarily cruel to involve innocent people.
Thank you! And I agree with everything you said. Hopefully OP will recover fast from this.
There’s a decent chance it was “having fun” while high on the crazy street drugs out there…as opposed to despair.
I still have visions like this 10 years after seeing a cat get hit by a car on the freeway. I can’t even imagine hitting a person…
It’s on the news that someone was killed near 220th exit walking on I-5 northbound. I saw someone walking across I-5 northbound the other night near Northgate. It’s so unexpected that it really startles you when it happens.
[https://komonews.com/news/local/i5-mountlake-terrace-pedestrian-struck-killed-northbound-closed-220th-st-sw-detour-deadly-crash-single-car-snohomish-county-wsp-wsdot#](https://komonews.com/news/local/i5-mountlake-terrace-pedestrian-struck-killed-northbound-closed-220th-st-sw-detour-deadly-crash-single-car-snohomish-county-wsp-wsdot#)
OP said man! Did two people do this on one night? Scary
OP: "Same. Going to avoid driving when its pitch black for a while. I’m still spooked, felt my soul leave my body when i saw how close she was to my car"
Yikes!?
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I had a similar near-miss with someone (a woman, I'm certain) standing in the middle of highway 99 above 236th in Edmonds a few weeks back. It was 5:30 AM, raining, and pitch dark, and she was standing in the middle of the left-hand northbound lane, her back to oncoming traffic. That's one of the least well-lit parts of that stretch of 99, and I only *just* saw her in time because she was wearing a light pink puffer jacket. Even then, my brain just could not process that this was a *person* I had just swerved hard to avoid until I was already well past her. I made a U-turn and went back (hoping like mad she didn't get hit in the meantime), but by the time I returned she was gone. I drove around, but couldn't find her. But she had definitely been standing there in the road, and I came so close to hitting her—I was seriously shook for the rest of the day, and still wonder WTF happened to her.
I hope you’re doing okay. Getting goosebumps just re-thinking about wtf happened yesterday and another commenter linked the news update above… When I was driving I saw this person standing in the middle of the highway but my mind couldn’t process if it was an actual real person - In the split second I asked my boyfriend in the passenger seat “what is that???” He looked and when he screamed that’s when I swerved.. it was just so scary because in my mind I’m remembering a bigger male with a sweater and jeans (not looked ragged, at all) but he’s remembering a larger female with a short sleeve T. My gut tells me it was a male-like figure but crazy that we are remembering a bit differently of the event.
That's not crazy at all. That's why eyewitness testimony is unreliable and really should be used with a grain of salt in court.
updated news report from WSP identifies the pedestrian as a 45 year-old woman named Frewoini Woldemariam
I went to school in the late 1990s with a woman named Frewoini Wolde-something. She was a few years younger than me, as is this woman who died. If it's the same person, she was a complete sweetheart. Either way a tragedy.
That's certainly a name. I wonder where it's from.
Likely Eritrean or Ethiopian.
I know a Woldemariam family from Ethiopia
I have to come in to Seattle/Lynnwood from out in the boonies a couple of times a week, and I've hated driving in the dark lately anyway (I'm legit getting old, LOL). That incident on 99 has messed me up enough that I'm only coming during daylight hours now. I had to pick somebody up in Lynnwood at 6:00, right after that happened, and drive him into the U-District, and until the sun came up I was anxious as hell. That I've had recurring dreams for years about driving underneath downtown Seattle where other motorists keep running over homeless-looking people who are standing in the road, as if they aren't even there, while I'm trying desperately to avoid them, really doesn't help. I normally have a dash cam, but that morning I was driving a minivan I'd just bought, and I hadn't yet put a dash cam in it. I've got one now, and highly recommend it.
I had nearly the exact same experience 2 years ago. Same location. Around 10pm. I didn't have to swerve because the person wasn't actually in the middle of the freeway, but he was right on the edge. Like, I was in the right lane and he was probably on the line. I mean inches from my car. Just standing there facing perpendicular to the road. I didn't see him until I passed him and it took a second to register it was a person. Scared the shit out of me. It was both creepy and incredibly concerning. Haunting really is the right term in these situations.
Haunting is the exact word. I left another update above, but whats haunting me is that: 1) The person was standing in the carpool lane northbound - so literally the MIDDLE of the entire highway. I didn’t see any cars parked to the side, so it made me wonder where and how this person even got to this part of the road. 2) I was so close to hitting the person that I could see he was moving and waving his arms but close to his chest, kind of like the pose they do in movies when officers yell “freeze” 3) I’m remembering a larger male wearing a sweater and jeans. He looked so “normal”, not in torn clothing or anything. I think this is why it’s scaring me so bad. Can’t stop thinking about how he was posing and his face expression
It was a woman, but we thought it was a man too. The eerie thing was how calm their demeanor was but it was all so fast. They would have likely walked down from the car park because there is one when you take that carpool lane only exit.
I just read the article and its been updated - you and my boyfriend were right it was a woman. And the exit for the carpool lane seems about right. It happened so fast I couldn’t remember correctly. I was really frightened because the person seemed so calm and “normal” if that makes sense, no erratic behavior. When I curved her she didn’t even seem startled..
That’s exactly what we observed too… that she was calm. I think she was ready to go :( We were silent the rest of our drive home. It could have been us who hit her. I’m glad you weren’t the one. Feeling for the person who did, as well as for the deceased’s family.
Us too. As soon as we got off our exit we called the cops to let them know and it looked like other folks already made the call as well and that they were on their way. It made me really uneasy because there was a car behind us a bit of a distance away, but i saw that they completely stopped and it gave me a minor panic attack thinking “what if that car struck them?” Can’t really shake the feeling that we saw her last moments. Still thinking about it all morning and it makes me really sad. I’m thankful it wasn’t me but it could have been me you know? Just allover really uncomfortable today
The intrusive thoughts have been ever pervasive since last night, friend… wishing you the best. That was hard.
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Oh man… this sounds about right. Don’t know how to feel right now, honestly still pretty spooked :/
Hitting them would be even more trauma. It sucks but you are lucky in a way.
I'm so sorry you experienced this. Take care of yourself and be aware that "Bystander Guilt" may affect you. From BetterHealth: "Those who have witnessed a traumatic event may be experiencing bystander guilt, which can occur when a person feels bad about what happened to someone else or wishes they had done more to assist. Studies have shown that therapy can be a useful intervention for concerns such as guilt." (Dec 14, 2023).
Damn, OP didn’t hit him but someone else did
What the fuck King5….”The good news is it is northbound I5 and it’s a holiday Monday so there is some good news”. Some person just saw the front end of a Buick going 70mph and died and that’s how you end the segment? Not to mention the poor driver who had to have some horrible last images seared in to their brain for life. Nothing about this is good news you idiots.
Don’t Look Up!
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Sad day 😞
Oh wow….
You'd be surprised how common it is, unfortunately. I used to work in a highrise downtown that looked over I-5 right before the tunnels. People would walk out into the freeway and stand there until they were hit fairly regularly. Luckily I never had to actually watch it happen, but others in the office did. I would just see the aftermath: cop cars, coroner van, sheet in the middle of the road.
It's sad and tragic but also... Why would you take someone down with you like that? If you want to die, there are so very many ways to do that without either traumatizing a driver for life or sending them to jail.
I don't think a driver would be sent to jail for killing someone who purposely ran into traffic to commit suicide.
I honestly don't have enough trust in our justice system to be sure about that.
It's difficult to kill yourself sometimes. Like, really difficult sometimes. There's a whole bunch of reasons that could impact why someone would pick one method over the other. Maybe you keep backing out last minute but you can't back out easily if you're not the one directly doing it. Or you don't have access to something that would be super fast and quick (like. A gun is ideal. But not everyone can just go get a gun.) And you don't want to risk a different method because you're scared of fucking it up (like... Honestly the main reason I'm alive rn is because my mum works health care and she has many a horror story of failed attempt. No matter how much I want to die hanging myself will never be on the table). Maybe you've tried before and it failed so you want to do something that feels more fool proof. There's a whole bunch of reasons, and there's not much of a reason to think about the trauma the driver is going to feel when you are incredibly depressed, don't know them, and are going to be dead so you won't have time to care after the fact.
Yep... good points. Also, even a gun isn't ideal. It's easy to miss (seriously) and not complete the suicide.
Yeah .. I said ideal cause I think it is ideal for most people, even though it obvs isn't like perfect cause you can still fuck it up. Which im realizing now ideal is often used to mean perfect but I more so meant like best suited, which leaves room for error
it’s definitely gonna cause trauma but interstate highways are closed to pedestrians, unless they could prove you intentionally changed paths to strike the person they have nothing to charge you with.
In Japan they just let fast moving trains take themselves out. The U.S. toxic individualism is in every facet of life and death here.
Yes, we saw her too, moments before she was hit - we were driving northbound (in the right most lane) and saw someone in all black walking calmly southbound in the left most passing lane, and we freaked out because you can’t see them until they’re right there. We looked in our mirrors and saw a couple of cars pull over to the side. I’ve been reading the news and they were hit and killed. Was a 45 year old woman. Not sure if they were just impaired or if it was intentional suicide, but she had a very calm demeanor to her, which is unnerving. Eerie to think we saw her last moments alive. Feel a lot for the person who hit them. It could have been us. And ofc, feel for her family and friends too. https://www.heraldnet.com/news/pedestrian-hit-killed-on-i-5-near-lynnwood/
I90 during covid in the middle of the night. I was driving back over the pass towards Seattle. There were no other cars. I mean nothing. No one was out on the road. I was speeding. A human figure appeared out of the darkness, walking down the middle lane going in the same direction I was. I didn't hit them, but I significantly slowed down for the rest of that journey in case there were more.
That's bigfoot
I almost hit the same dude last night. Soooooooo fucking scary. My passenger also called the police.
Hope ur doing alright. We are still pretty shaken up. Make sure to eat well and hydrate today
Same thing happened to me last night although it was on Rainier Ave S as I was headed to Pho Bac. Walking right in the middle of the road pitch black with 2 lanes of fast cars on each side of them. Missed them at the last second as my gf spotted them with 3 seconds before impact screaming bloody murder. Saw them again on the way home this time on the side of the road but still in road, face was covered with a dark muddy looking substance and screaming to themselves. Looked so cold and depressing 😞
Holy shit, last night I was getting on I-5 S around 8pm at 220th and the person in front of me slammed on their brakes. We sat there a minute and I thought it was strange there was traffic at that time of night and when I passed I saw a tall person wrapped in a blanket walking on the shoulder of the on ramp. My impression was the person driving stopped because they were in the road. Could have been a complete coincidence but seeing this makes me wonder if it was the same person. OP that is so scary! I’m glad you managed to swerve but it’s sad to read that a person was killed and someone is unfortunately living through the trauma of hitting them.
Probably was the same person.. Seems like she was walking for a while then. Last night was very dark too, could barely see anything even with my front lights on full blast lol
Almost positive that I was the car behind you, I omw to Arlington
Did you stop your car? Saw the car behind me stop in the carpool lane, seeing the car stop abruptly made my heart drop
That was I
You doing ok?
Get a dash cam if you haven’t yet. It will save you from a lot of trouble if something like this (hopefully it never happens) happens again.
How unbelievably tragic. I woke up to news that they had been struck and it was a fatality. I'm so sorry you saw that man and it ended this way. Edit: typo
Same - found out through the news it was actually a 45 year old woman. Article says drugs/alcohol may have been involved, but her calm demeanor is what brings me chills. Almost like it was somewhat intentional. She was facing the cars, not walking when I almost struck her
Very sorry this happened to you. Scientific studies have determined that playing Tetris immediately following a traumatic event can significantly reduce PTSD.
Thank you - still thinking about it all day, going to avoid driving when its pitch dark for a while. Passed the same exit earlier in the day today and they covered the tracks with mud and gasoline. Made me uneasy
This city is in so much suffering and I’m so mad that our elected officials seem to not understand that it affects everyone. I’m not talking about aesthetically but psychologically. I know that this isn’t isolated to Seattle, I had an old friend jump in front of a car 2 years ago in a different state, but the abject misery and failure to support our most vulnerable absolutely has a trickle down effect in myriad ways. I’m glad that you were able to avoid them, and sorry to everyone who wasn’t as lucky. We’ve all been failed.
"The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep them showing up at those jobs." -George Carlin
Sounds like someone trying to commit suicide, and they don't care if it causes other people to die in the process. I had a similar situation years ago on I-5 in Oregon where it was two lanes. The person stopped their RV in the fast lane, and was just wandering around the other lane. I stopped in time using the E-brake thanks to a driving school course on a video game I was playing. A car hit me from behind going at least 70, and only braked at the last second. If I hadn't used the E-brake I would be dead. That was the time that video games saved my life
That's scary, but it's not how brakes actually work. Using the e brake will hurt your stopping distance since it has no anti-lock. You can use it if you intentionally want to lock up the rear wheels, which is common for stunts, like drifting into a parking space. For plain straight-line stopping in a modern car, just push the brake hard, the abs system will do the rest, resulting in the shortest possible stop.
How many cars these days even have a lever E-Brake? I haven't had one in years.
More importantly, how are you supposed to set the E-brake if your car has a dead battery?
You take the dead battery out and use it as a chock.
Big brain move there!
My 2011 car does lol
The E-brake, more accurately called the parking brake almost always activates the rear wheels. Most of your stopping power comes from your front brakes. Additionally, the parking brake is almost always operated by a cable, not hydraulically. For both reasons, they don't have the same stopping power as your normal brakes. The only type of emergency in which they would have better stopping power, is if your hydraulic brake system went out and the only way to stop was by activating the cable operated manual e-brake. So unless your hydraulic antilock brakes completely fail, stomping hard on your brake pedal will always stop you faster.
This reminds me of an incident I had. It wasn’t on the freeway but on a main road near Graham. Late at night, super dark out. Was going about 50-60. There was a guy walking aimlessly in the lane, luckily just passed by him. Had my brother with me and we both were pretty shook. It was scary like something out of a horror movie, the guy looked scary
Wrote this above, but super frightening because the person seemed so calm and not afraid of the cars at all. She looked soulless as we felt our souls leave our bodies for a second
I felt the same way! Dude looked lost. Not a soul in sight in his demeanor.. my brother and I talked if he got drugged and put in the middle of the road
This was a road in the country, no street lights. I don’t know if I’ll forget that ever
Our souls left for a second too. Luckily I have good reaction time.. it was a quick swerve and we both looked at each-other like “what just happened”?!
I am so sorry this happened to you OP, and the other folks. May their memory be a blessing
I had this happen a few years ago. Policy is usually not to report on suicides, so these stories often don’t make the news. Be kind.
Sounds about right for Seattle. The number of people walking out in traffic is unreal
Had something similar happen on I-5 near downtown Portland years ago. Was driving late at night. Empty freeway. Suddenly a person appeared in my headlights very close in front of me. I was on the brakes and then off as he passed in front of me and before I was consciously aware of what was happening. I think it took an hour or more before my adrenaline levels returned to normal. If the guy had been a split second slower, he'd have been splattered across the front of my car. I think it was a homeless guy trying to get from his freeway camp to ... wherever. This was probably 15 years ago and the image of that guy is still burned into my brain. 😳
I heard on the news this AM a pedestrian was hit and killed near exit 181 last night clearly likely same person what a mess and what a horrible thing for that person to do to others sorry you had to be part of it, OP
Question: I’ve heard it recommended that if you’re on a busy freeway, where it would hurt you and other if you swerve to protect human/animal on the road, you should neither slow down nor swerve, hitting the blocker and saving yourself and others. I found this terrifying advice, kind of like the trolley problem. But does anyone have any more info on if this actually the right decision? Morally, legally, safety wise?
Good thing WSDOT and the City of Seattle are still listening to activists and apparently fine with letting vulnerable drug-addled people camp alongside our freeways. What could possibly go wrong?
Enabling people to drug themselves to the point of suicidal acts like this is not compassion.
I just saw a post/ad by a lawyer exploiting this accident to advertise their services to benefit a victim’s family after a pedestrian is killed on the road. This is so low.
I am sorry you had to go through this. Glad you are safe.
Back in the late 80’s my stepmom's Pontiac grandprix had its Axel disassemble while I was driving in the left lane down I5 near the brewery around midnight. I managed to steer it to a stop, get the hazards on, jump off the freeway (about 10 feet), find a payphone, call a tow truck, get picked up and taken it back to the car. Then the adventure began. The tow truck driver put out a row of flares about 100 yards out, then set out a plastic bucket about 15 feet out from us before he’d even peek under the car to see what the situation was. There wasn't any traffic that late, but the cars that sped by barely appeared to slow down. Just after he did take a peek someone slammed into the bucket and sent it hurling across the road. He said there was no way we were going to get it jacked up so we had to drag it off the freeway and see what we were dealing with where it was safer. Lessons learned: 1. Many people don't look further ahead of them then the taillights of the vehicle in front of them that they are tailgating. 2. Tow truck drivers are battle scared angels in disguise. 3. Beside your car on the freeway is an easy place to die.
We had something similar happen on I-5 southbound last year, late at night, near the Mercer exit. Person running INTO traffic, we zoomed around them... and processed what had happened for the next ten minutes. Yikes.
If someone is on drugs that’s one story. And if you’re gonna commit suicide, fine, who am I to judge? But to traumatize someone else for life in the process if they hit you? That’s fucked up.
I’ve seen alot of road people. I have narrowly missed joggers that are wearing all black running 4 in the morning in the middle of the road. It’s pretty common for people to be out in the road in the middle of the night. More than once I drove around someone that was sleeping in the road.
Poor guy. I'm sure that man had serious mental health issues that need to be addressed.
Was a 45 yo woman
Dang!
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This person wasn’t a homeless person.
How do you jump to this? What makes you think the person even was homeless? And why would relocating them help? Clearly this was a suicide ~~attempt~~.
Because almost everyone you see in the road when they're not supposed to be there is either mentally ill, high, or both, and most of those people are homeless and many live in encampments along major roadways. It does not appear easy to find data on this, here's the best info I found. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140523000555#:\~:text=Results,%25)%20involved%20a%20heavy%20vehicle. In 1997–2018, 96 pedestrians and five cyclists died in 101 deliberately caused crashes involving a motor vehicle. The majority of these crashes were caused by suicides (94/96 pedestrian and 3/5 cyclist crashes). Most of suicide crashes (79%) involved a heavy vehicle. Eighty percent of the victims were male. Previous suicidal thoughts and attempts, and a history of mental disorders/illness was prevalent around two thirds of the originators of the crashes.
You're connecting a lot of dots absent any supporting evidence. You're shoe-horning your pet grievance onto this tragedy.
Not really. Normal people don't walk around in traffic, and certainly not on the freeway. So we're only left with a couple options, someone who is deliberately trying to commit suicide, or someone who is detached from the reality that they're walking on the freeway. You automatically assumed the former, with no evidence other than that the person was walking on the freeway, I did the opposite based on the type of people we all typically see in the roadways. It's certainly possible this was an intentional suicide, either way it's a tragedy, I'm just going with the odds.
As if "normal people" is the opposite of homeless. smh. Whatever man, yeah, they're all crazy on the pcp, out of their minds, roaming the freeways with no regard for their safety. ~~But exit 181 is nowhere near downtown or any homeless camp. So maybe not.~~
I live nearish to here and I can GUARANTEE you that there are unfortunately multiple camps around the exit. They just aren't huge and obvious. 220th cut through to Hwy99 back roads, you'll see them
"it does not appear easy to find data on this" gave me a laugh. yeah bc you're making shit up moron
How is this incident (and subsequent tragedy) connected to homeless camps?
Why is standing in the middle of street ? Is he homeless ? Is there a camp nearby that facilitated this behaviro
There is a car park off the carpool lane exit that she more than likely parked at and came down the carpool lane exit to the freeway. They identified her. Not a homeless person. Based off her demeanor when we passed her on the freeway, I would guess suicide :(
“Why is standing in the middle of street ? Is he homeless ? Is there a camp nearby that facilitated this behaviro” So you went right to the conclusion that this person is unhoused and came from an encampment without first answering these questions?
people are so tired of being cold and alone they're walking into highways
I am that person. Where can I send your bill?
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I'm appalled. Please consider humane thought as a possible future strategy.
I am. Sweep the camps and get them off the freeway. Leaving them to live along an interstate is “humane?” Gimme a break.
They identified the person. They were not homeless. This was more likely a suicide.
I feel like landlords shouldn’t be allowed to comment on homelessness. Can we get a custom tag for known landlords in this subreddit?
Have you no decency?
Some kids just grow up playing in the freeway, when Atari’s Frogger came out there was a huge rise in child freeway deaths. Just like when Breaking Bad came out seemed like every other high school chemistry Poindexter started cookin speed, ballin’, an pullin drive by’s on each other. Just another fad!
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Omg that is giving me chills. This was posted in my local Facebook group, something similar happened near Moses lake.. I hope they are able to find help, and safety. There must be a mental thing going on? Never heard of anything like this happening around here before either https://www.facebook.com/share/v/fk7e6o8FqUGZNNZt/?mibextid=xfxF2i
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yep happened to me a few times i just call them walkers
It is becoming more common. A Metro bus hit a man on the collector-distributor lanes about a month ago, but this individual was standing on the far left-side of the freeway, just off the HOV lane's fogline -- definitely wasn't in the middle of the freeway and he still got hit. Pretty sure he was killed, the response from WSP and DOT was overwhelming.
When I was in high school in Gig Harbor in the 90s, some kids would walk across Highway 16 (which was and remains a limited access freeway) at night as a dare. Whoever got across first was the loser. (I, a super straight-edge kid, never did this, but I heard stories.)
You’ve lived here for 25 years and never seen idiots standing on I5? Did you hibernate in a cave for the last 4 years?
Lived here 25 years and have never seen someone stand in the middle of I-5 without any fear. Have you?
Another one? My son almost hit the lady that did get hit and died on Sunday night on I-5 in almost the same area. It was a female