Highway Safety

2023

• The number of people who died in crashes on Washington public roads increased 9.0% from 743 in 2022 to 810 in 2023
• The number of people who were seriously injured on Washington public roadways increased 10.0% from 3,102 in 2022 to 3,413 in 2023
• Over the past decade, the combined number of people who were involved in fatal or serious injury crashes on Washington public roads increased 71.2% from 2,466 in 2014 to 4,223 in 2023

2022

• Fatality crashes on Washington public roads increased 11.3% from 674 in 2021 to 750 in 2022
• Serious injury crashes on Washington public roadways increased 5.8% from 2,921 in 2021 to 3,090 in 2022
• Over the past decade, serious injury and fatal crashes on Washington public roads increased 63.3% from 2,352 in 2013 to 3,840 in 2022

2021

• Annual traffic fatality crashes on Washington public roads increased 15.5% from 574 in 2020 to 663 in 2021
• Annual serious injury crashes on Washington public roadways increased 20.4% from 2,428 in 2020 to 2,924 in 2021
• Serious injury and fatal crashes on Washington public roads have increased 52.5% from 2,352 in 2013 to 3,587 in 2021
• Fatal crashes involving polydrugs on Washington public roadways has increased 176.3% from 80 in 2011 to 221 in 2021

2020

• Annual traffic fatality crashes on Washington public roads increased 6.7% from 538 in 2019 to 574 in 2020
• Annual serious injuries crashes on Washington public roadways increased 7.7% from 2,255 in 2019 to 2,428 in 2020

COVID-19 changes travel; less congestion but more fatalities and serious injuries

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how Washingtonians travel across all modes of transportation. In March, several COVID-19 related health measures were enacted by Gov. Jay Inslee to reduce the spread of COVID. The governor's "Stay Home Stay Healthy Order" resulted in a significant reduction in the number of motorized vehicles on the road. Additionally, the contagious nature of COVID-19 has led to physical distancing as common response to limiting the spread of the disease, which affected travel modes with large numbers of users in confined spaces, such as public transport modes including buses, light rail, trains and ferries.

In contrast people using active transportation (walking and biking, etc.) has increased during the pandemic, adding to the number of road users who are more susceptible to injuries on many road systems.

Lower highway vehicle traffic volumes generally result in fewer total crashes because there are fewer vehicles in close proximity due to reduced congestion. Average monthly crashes decreased between 18% and 55% each month during the pandemic (starting from March 2020) as volumes dropped. In August 2020, fatal and serious injury crashes increased 34% compared to the same period in 2019.

2019

• Annual statewide traffic fatalities decreased 1.9% from 539 in 2018 to 538 in 2019
• The annual number of serious injuries increased 0.8% from 2,236 in 2018 to 2,255 in 2019

Washington currently missing Target Zero goal of no fatalities or serious injuries by 2030

WSDOT and safety partners statewide are considering necessary steps to achieve, or make significant progress toward, meeting Washington's 2030 goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

WSDOT's safety program faces challenges due to a financially-constrained environment and the agency's need to fund competing priorities such as preserving agency assets at a State of Good Repair (bridges, pavement, facilities, etc.) and addressing multimodal mobility issues while making progress on injunctions such as the removal of fish passage barriers.

Through its priority programming process, WSDOT identifies and spends approximately $50 million on safety improvement projects each year. During the 2019-2021 biennium (July 2019-June 2021), WSDOT has identified approximately $41 million per year for safety improvements. In addition, the Legislature appropriated another $26.5 million per year to support standalone legislatively-identified projects.