Washington is headed toward another grim milestone as the year ends. Deaths involving motor vehicles have nearly doubled in the last decade, with the pace this year likely to pass 2022's 33-year-high of 750 lives claimed. The level of carnage is unacceptable, and governments at all levels must work to stop it.
The Washington State Department of Transportation's goal of "Target Zero" seemed bold but achievable only a few years ago. Now it feels wildly unrealistic. A majority of nearly 11,000 respondents this year felt it was either "moderately or extremely dangerous to drive on public roads," according to a survey by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. The same respondents felt it even more unsafe to walk or bike.
In the last decade, around half of fatal crashes included drunken or otherwise impaired driving as a factor; a third involved speed; and a quarter inattention — likely a driver's use of a smartphone, traffic safety commission statistics say.
In the face of 2022's death toll, the highest in more than three decades, Gov. Jay Inslee and the Legislature failed to do enough this year to tackle the problem. Lawmakers will be considering a number of proposals — among them lowering the current DUI blood-alcohol limit from .08 to .05, limiting right-turns on red lights at intersections, and expanding camera enforcement — that could save lives.
Justice must also get swifter in Washington's DUI cases. It's been taking a staggering amount of time — nearly a year on average — to produce the results of a defendant's blood sample. Lacking such critical evidence delays or even leads to dismissal of charges against defendants, who will, undoubtedly, get back behind the wheel. A just-opened $4.5 million Washington State Patrol lab in Federal Way should speed along prosecutions — a step in the right direction.
Inslee's budget calls for more funding for the Washington State Patrol and staffing for the state toxicology labs. He's also proposing expanding traffic enforcement cameras to state highways, beyond their limited use in school and highway work zones. Another positive step.
Engineering of roadways, too, has a role to play. Smarter street designs can help slow car speeds and increase the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians, whose death toll has tripled in the state over the last decade. Those are worthwhile improvements but they'll take time when action is needed now. Local governments should identify and intervene in the most dangerous sections of roadway, swiftly raise awareness of the problem and send a message, through traffic enforcement, that dangerous driving will be penalized.
Across the state, police are issuing roughly half the tickets they wrote before the pandemic, according to the traffic safety commission's statistics. There are myriad reasons for this precipitous drop. Some departments, like Seattle, are so understaffed they're having trouble responding to major crimes, let alone speeders.
"There's a sense of impunity among some drivers," says Steve Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, "who are treating Washington's roads like they're a raceway."
That attitude must be changed. Ultimately, the responsibility of safe roads falls to us all. Please drive sober, safely and with a seat belt this holiday season, and beyond. Let's make sure motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike can make it through their holiday plans unscathed.
