A 55-year-old woman walking her dog was seriously injured Tuesday morning after a driver turning a Ford F-150 pickup truck struck her in a marked crosswalk at NE 137th Avenue and NE 99th Street in Orchards, an unincorporated community in Clark County. The woman was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, while her dog was not hurt in the crash, which happened just before 9 a.m. as she crossed the street, according to deputies.
According to KGW, the driver had been traveling eastbound on NE 99th Street before turning right onto NE 137th Avenue and striking the woman. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, per KATU. Deputies said the driver may have been impaired and released the driver pending toxicology results and the completion of the investigation.
Toxicology results remain pending, and whether the driver faces charges will hinge on what those tests show. Under Washington's RCW 46.61.522, a driver who is impaired by drugs or alcohol and causes substantial bodily harm to another person can be charged with felony vehicular assault, a Class B felony carrying up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. State law defines substantial bodily harm to include bone fractures or serious internal injuries.
What Washington Law Requires at Crosswalks
Washington drivers approaching an intersection or crosswalk are legally required to stop and remain stopped for pedestrians crossing within marked or unmarked crosswalks, whenever the pedestrian is in or within one lane of the driver's half of the roadway, under RCW 46.61.235. The law applies even at intersections without painted markings, since Washington recognizes all public road intersections as legal crosswalks.
Unincorporated pockets of Clark County like Orchards fall outside city police jurisdiction, meaning the Clark County Sheriff's Office Traffic Unit handles primary enforcement and major collision investigations there, rather than the Vancouver Police Department, which covers incorporated city streets.
A Similar Crash on the Same Road Last Year
The stretch of NE 137th Avenue has seen tragedy before. Almost exactly a year earlier, in September 2025, a 73-year-old driver suspected of DUI struck and killed a father and his 6-year-old son as they walked along the 6400 block of NE 137th Avenue in Clark County, according to MyNorthwest. That driver was booked on two counts of vehicular homicide and DUI.
Clark County Public Works has poured money into safety upgrades along the corridor in the time since, completing multi-million dollar improvements near NE 137th Avenue and NE 99th Street that added roundabouts, wider sidewalks, mixed-use paths, center turn lanes, marked crosswalks, and pedestrian refuge islands aimed at slowing traffic.
Pedestrian Deaths Stay Near Record Highs Statewide
The Orchards crash lands amid a broader, troubling pattern for pedestrians across Washington even as overall road deaths ease. Preliminary data released by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in May showed statewide traffic fatalities fell 10.5% in 2025 to 659 deaths, marking a second straight year of declines after a 33-year peak of 809 fatalities in 2023.
Pedestrians have not seen the same relief. State traffic monitoring found pedestrian fatalities remained near historic highs, with 148 deaths in 2025 and 158 in 2024 — the second- and third-highest annual totals ever recorded in the state, trailing only 2023's record of 160 deaths. Toxicology data compiled from fatal Washington crashes in 2026 found alcohol present in 57% of impaired drivers, followed by cannabis in 22% and methamphetamine in 8%, though officials note toxicology analysis often takes months to finalize.
The pattern extends beyond Washington's borders. A Governors Highway Safety Association report analyzing preliminary 2024 national data found U.S. drivers struck and killed 7,148 pedestrians, a 4.3% annual decrease but still nearly 20% above 2016 levels, with the group noting elevated risk in collisions involving pickup trucks and SUVs.
