Are WA roads getting safer? New data shows a change in years-long trend

Are WA roads getting safer? New data shows a change in years-long trend

Washington may have finally turned a corner in the fight against its rising death toll from car accidents, according to a new estimate from the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission.

After holding steady across the mid-2010s, the number of traffic deaths in Washington increased each year between 2019 and 2023.

The annual increases weren’t small either. Traffic deaths rose from 538 in 2019 to 809 in 2023, a 50.6% increase. That marked the state’s highest single-year total in 33 years, according to WTSC.

But in 2024, car crash deaths fell for the first time in five years, according to WTSC’s preliminary findings. WA car crash deaths drop for first time since 2019.

“This is obviously a welcome change to see our annual fatality numbers decline after experiencing large increases over the previous four years,” WTSC director Shelly Baldwin stated in a news release.

WTSC attributes much of the rise in deadly car accidents to a reduction in the enforcement of traffic laws during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Law enforcement and other traffic safety partners have worked hard to reverse the deadly trend we experienced in 2020-2023. And we still have a lot of work to do to further reduce these historically high fatality numbers,” Baldwin noted. Drunk driving, speeding deaths fall

Washington saw significantly fewer fatal crashes involving a drunk driver last year than in 2023. WTSC estimates that 430 traffic deaths involved an impaired driver last year, down from 493 the year before.

Speeding fatalities, meanwhile, fell by 8.5% and deaths involving people who weren’t wearing a seat belt fell by 18%. Motorcycle fatalities also dropped significantly, going from 142 to 113.

“The bottom line is that four driver behaviors contribute to at least 75 percent of traffic fatalities annually: impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving, and failure to wear seat belts,” Mark McKechnie, WTSC external relations director, stated in the news release. “In order to make our roads safer, we should drive sober, at safe speeds, without distractions, and buckle up.” New WA driving laws

There has also been a statewide push to reduce traffic fatalities in recent years.

In 2023, the state legislature passed a law creating a new charge that carries jail time for negligent drivers who kill a pedestrian, biker or motorcyclist. The law didn’t go into effect until January of 2025, so its impact remains to be seen. WTSC also revised its “Target Zero” road safety plan in 2024, which suggested exploring the idea of lowering the legal blood alcohol content limit for drivers to 0.05%.

The Washington State Patrol and Washington State Department of Transportation recently began using cameras to enforce speed limits in work zones, and rolled out a pilot program for speed cameras on highways.

More changes could be on the way as well. The state legislature recently passed a bill requiring people who have had their license suspended for reckless driving or excessive speeding to install a device that keeps their car at or below the speed limit.

Another bill requiring driver’s education for anyone up to 21 years old seeking a license was recently signed into law as well, although it will be implemented gradually between 2027 and 2030. A new bill aiming to classify exceeding the speed limit by 30 miles an hour or more as reckless driving passed the state senate unanimously, but has yet to make it out of the House of Representatives.

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