Anchorage police say a woman was struck and killed by an SUV early Friday in Spenard along Minnesota Drive, marking the city’s fourth fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision this week.
Police said in a statement Friday morning that officers responded to the collision, on Minnesota near 34th Avenue, at about 3:45 a.m.
“Initial indications are that an adult male driving a Honda Pilot was travelling south on Minnesota Drive when he collided with an adult female pedestrian who was crossing the road outside of a crosswalk,” police said in the statement. “Life-saving measures were performed on the victim; she was ultimately declared deceased at the scene by AFD Medics.”
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with officers, police said. No charges have been filed.
Police closed Minnesota to southbound traffic between Spenard Road and Benson Boulevard Friday morning, with the road reopened by 10:30 a.m. The victim hasn’t been named, as police notify her family.
She is the fourth woman to be struck and killed by a vehicle in the Anchorage area since early Sunday, when police say two women – Shannon Wallner, 42, and Danielle Washington, 45 – were struck hours apart by pickup trucks while crossing Muldoon and DeBarr roads outside crosswalks. A third woman, who hasn’t yet been identified by police, was fatally struck early Monday by a minivan on the Seward Highway south of Potter Marsh.
Police addressed those collisions in a Facebook post Tuesday, noting that the return of early-morning darkness in fall is often accompanied by an increase in pedestrians struck by vehicles. They urged pedestrians to wear brighter colors and reflective stripes, walk facing traffic and cross only at designated crosswalks or intersections.
The police department said officers are also increasing enforcement this month in areas that tend to have many pedestrians, as part of an effort funded by the federal National Highway Safety Traffic Administration and the Alaska Highway Safety Office.
“Officers working the details will target aggressive drivers who are speeding, running red lights and stop signs, driving while impaired, improperly turning, and failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks,” the department said. “Officers will also be contacting pedestrians who are committing offenses that may increase their likelihood of being involved in a collision with a vehicle.”
Police are asking anyone with information about Friday’s collision who has not spoken with police, or anyone who has surveillance video of the area, to call them at 311.
According to police, the woman killed Friday is the 11th pedestrian fatally struck by a vehicle in Anchorage this year.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
