A 38-year-old Yakima woman died after being struck by a car while crossing North Fifth Avenue outside a marked crosswalk after dark on Tuesday night. She suffered significant head trauma and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. The driver stopped, called 911 to report striking a pedestrian, and has been cooperating with investigators.
According to the Apple Valley News Now report, the collision happened as the woman crossed the roadway at a point without a designated crosswalk. Police have logged the crash under case number 26YO28664 and say the investigation remains ongoing. Drugs or alcohol are not suspected as factors in the crash, and officers have interviewed the driver as part of the review.
Nighttime Visibility a Factor Police Are Weighing
The Yakima Police Department noted the collision happened after dark, when pedestrians are generally less visible to oncoming traffic, according to the department's own account of the incident shared on Facebook. That detail matters under Washington law: pedestrians crossing outside a marked or unmarked intersection crosswalk are required to yield the right-of-way to vehicles under RCW 46.61.240. But that yield requirement doesn't erase a driver's separate legal duty. State law under RCW 46.61.245 still requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid hitting pedestrians on any roadway, and to sound a horn when necessary.
Because both duties can apply at once, Washington uses a pure comparative negligence standard under RCW 4.22, meaning fault in a case like this can end up divided between a pedestrian's positioning and a driver's degree of care, rather than falling entirely on one side, per an explanation from PNW Trial Lawyers. That legal framework helps explain why no charges have been announced against the driver even as the investigation continues.
Anyone With Information Asked to Come Forward
Yakima police are asking anyone with information about Tuesday's crash to contact Sergeant Jim Yates of the department's traffic unit at 509-575-6246. Investigators have not released further details about what led up to the collision.
Second Fatal Yakima Crash of the Year
Tuesday's crash marks the second fatal traffic collision recorded inside Yakima city limits so far this year, following an April 18 three-vehicle wreck on East Yakima Avenue that killed a 29-year-old man, according to the Yakima Police Department. That relative rarity underscores how unusual it is for the city to see two fatal crashes within city limits in the same year. It also comes just months after Yakima police investigated a separate pedestrian collision on North 1st Street in February, in which a 58-year-old woman suffered critical injuries and the driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault and DUI.
Pedestrian Deaths Remain Elevated Statewide
The crash lands amid a broader statewide pattern of stubbornly high pedestrian fatalities even as overall traffic deaths decline. Preliminary 2025 data released in May by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission recorded 148 pedestrian deaths statewide, the third-highest annual toll in state history, trailing only 160 in 2023 and 158 in 2024. Overall traffic fatalities in Washington actually dropped 10.5 percent last year, falling to 659 from 737 in 2024 and 809 in 2023, the commission's preliminary figures show.
That gap between falling overall deaths and persistently high pedestrian tolls mirrors a national trend. The Governors Highway Safety Association projected 6,732 pedestrian fatalities nationwide in 2025, a 7 percent drop from the year before but still 5 percent above pre-pandemic levels, according to estimates the organization published in March.
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