Anchorage Assembly demands changes in legislation amid 'record breaking' pedestrian fatalities

The Anchorage Assembly met on Tuesday about various safety issues in the Anchorage area — with pedestrian safety being of particular concern.

A “lay on the table” motion that was passed, concerning pedestrian safety, acquired approximately two hours of the Assembly’s attention.

Six pedestrians were fatally injured by vehicles in September, while there have been 13 fatalities in total during the year.

Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel said that from 2000 to 2022, 164 pedestrian deaths had been confirmed. “I’m really angry about that because any death in our community is a death in our community,” said Zaletel.

Zaletel called for October to be recognized as “Pedestrian Safety Month.”

Discussing pedestrian fatalities was a somber moment for the Anchorage community, but non-fatal critical pedestrian incidents were not mentioned. Around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, just hours before the Assembly meeting, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and suffered serious, life-threatening injuries.

The victim survived the accident, but she is one of the many survivors who could have become part of the 164 deaths in the last two decades.

Talks of changing the city ordinance led to tension between assembly members.

Some members of the assembly, such as Zac Johnson, mentioned disagreement with a previous law that was passed by the assembly in an October 2023 meeting that allowed pedestrians to legally jaywalk.

The decision to decriminalize jaywalking was a part of the consensus among some of the assembly that the city of Anchorage is not pedestrian friendly, as people sometimes have to walk half a mile between crosswalks.  

The tension between assembly members and members of the Anchorage community could stem from the perspective that the assembly’s decriminalization of jaywalking has some culpability in the situation.

Assembly Chair Anna Brawley agreed with other members of the assembly that traffic laws should be changed over a period of time and that Anchorage roads should not be treated as superhighways anymore. “I definitely speed more than I should on our roads and I need to stop doing that, and I hope others do as well,” said Brawely.