Cars drive along Northeast Washougal River Road, where some residents would like to see the speed lowered or some traffic-calming measures installed, as they say drivers go too fast on the curvy street. Photo Gallery
By the time the police and medics arrived, neighbors who live near the 36500 block of Northeast Washougal River Road were already there surveying the damage. They quickly realized that Schmid, 21, had died. The car he collided with was in Sue Bossman’s front yard. It somehow jumped a row of hedges, barely skimming the top. Schmid’s passenger and the driver of the other vehicle were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The neighbors said the crash was tragic, but not unexpected. Their section of Washougal River Road has a speed limit of 40 mph, lacks streetlights and contains a few curves. They have taken to running out of their houses when they hear a crash, to see if they can help. It’s turned into a rather macabre neighborhood joke of sorts.
“It’s the only time we see the neighbors,” said Bossman, who has lived on the street since 1978.
For years, residents have wanted to see something done to make the street safer. Their feelings have only grown stronger after Schmid died, and after the Washougal City Council voted last month to lower the speed limit on Main Street between Washougal River Road and 22nd Street to 20 mph. The section of Northeast Washougal River Road where the fatal crash occurred lies outside the Washougal city limits, so it would be up to the county to make any changes.
But that doesn’t seem to be in the county’s plans. Matt Griswold, traffic engineering and operations supervisor for Clark County Public Works, said there aren’t any proposals to reduce the speed or install any traffic-calming features.
That stretch of Washougal River Road was resurfaced in 2014, and Griswold said speeds tend to go up after new asphalt is laid. He said the county received enough complaints to conduct a speed study in the summer of 2016. The study showed that 85 percent of cars were going 49 mph or less.
“For a rural road, if I’ve got a city street posted at 25 and it comes in 5 over, that’s a success,” he said. “Rural roads come up a little bit. It’s a little higher than I’d like to see it. If my 85th percentile was 45, I’d be happy.”
Because the study came back and showed drivers going nearly 10 mph over the speed limit, Griswold said that doesn’t really support lowering the speed limit, as most drivers will drive a road at a speed they feel comfortable.
“If speeds would’ve come in at 30, 35, or even 40 mph, we could’ve considered (lowering the limit),” he said. “Because speeds were higher, all that did was tell us drivers were comfortable driving at a higher speed. If we did lower it to 30 or 25, it’s very doubtful we would get compliance unless we had a lot of police enforcement.”
Neighbor installs radar
Neil Williams, who has lived along Northeast Washougal River Road since 2013, mounted a radar speed detector in front of his house so he can monitor drivers. He also thinks it slows traffic if drivers see how fast they’re going. The fastest he’s seen someone driving, according to his personal radar detector, is 85 mph. He said he regularly sees all sorts of cars, log trucks and even school buses driving around 50 mph.
Williams now keeps a reflective vest and flashlight at the front of his house in case he hears a crash. He was one of the first people outside the night Schmid died.
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“I ran out because I heard a kid screaming bloody murder,” Williams said.
The screaming victim was trapped in a car, so Williams waited for the first responders to get there. He noticed a power pole was damaged in the crash and partly blocking the road. He stood in front of it to make sure no other drivers struck it, but almost got hit by another driver trying to get by.
Williams said he has lost two dogs since he moved to the house. It was just a month ago when his dog escaped from his fenced yard, and was killed soon after, he said. Williams can still point out the spot where the dog’s remains stained part of the street.
He would like to see the speed limit lowered, or the county add some streetlights and/or rumble strips. He said most crashes he’s observed since moving to Washougal River Road have happened at night.
According to collision data from the county, there have been 92 incidents on Washougal River Road from 2013 until March, the most recent data available. Of those 92 incidents, 37 occurred while it was dark and on a section of the road with either no streetlights or while the streetlights were off. According to the same data, 65 of those 92 incidents were single-vehicle collisions. Driver inattention was listed as a contributing factor in 21 of the 92 incidents, with exceeding reasonable safe speeds listed on 14 incidents and alcohol consumption listed as a contributing factor for 13.
Some neighbors are trying to take back control of the street from speeding drivers. On a recent Wednesday, Lisbeth White returned to her house driving around the 40-mile-an-hour speed limit, and had built a tail of at least six cars following close behind. The neighbors said that if someone is driving the speed limit, there is usually a caravan of cars close behind. Some neighbors deliberately drive below the speed limit to slow down other drivers.
Bossman said she starts signaling and braking a few houses before turning in her driveway to try to give other drivers enough warning. Still, they tailgate and even try to pass her.
“I came out here to retire,” Williams said. “It’s turned into the wild, Wild West.”
White and her family moved into a rental home along Northeast Washougal River Road in September while they wait for a house to be built farther down the road.
“I’m glad we didn’t buy a house on the river,” she said. “I can’t wait to move. It’s beautiful but deadly over here.”
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