Rantz: Petty King County fight could seriously hurt pedestrians

A ridiculously petty fight, fueled by King County’s transparent anti-car culture, over stop signs on the East Lake Sammamish Trail may very well result in someone getting seriously hurt.

According to The Seattle Times, the county delayed completion of the trail over a dispute as to whether or not cars or pedestrians should stop near a portion of the trail. The City of Sammamish argues pedestrians and bicyclists should stop because “there isn’t a safe stopping distance at the two intersections.”

The county argues the streets are lightly traveled so this shouldn’t be too onerous on drivers.

The argument, which has worked its way through court, is about who has the right to decide the placement of the stop signs, for me, it ignores what’s really at play here.

King County government has an anti-car bias and it’s playing out here. While I understand their bias, it’s ultimately dangerous. If a car runs the stop sign and hits a pedestrian not expecting incoming traffic, the pedestrian loses 100 percent of the time. That’s a reasonable concern for the City of Sammamish, which ultimately knows the area and residents better than the county.

Why would the county choose not to err on the side of protecting pedestrians? I understand wanting to create a trail that is as uninterrupted as possible, but if the traffic is as light as they claim, then this won’t really impact trail users anyway.

“Completion of the East Lake Sammamish Trail has been a long-term priority,” said Vicky Clarke, East King County policy manager for the Cascade Bicycle Club to the Times. According to the Times: “She said the issue of where stop signs are placed is important because it creates continuity and predictability for trail users.”

Agreed. You can predict knowing when to stop on your trail because you’ll see big stop signs telling you to stop. It’s not rocket science.

This is more about sending a message to drivers that they will always play second fiddle to pedestrians. If that’s what informs the county’s values, fine, but understand that when you blindly follow an ideology, you often do it to the detriment of common sense, and in this case, to the detriment of public safety.

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