Motor vehicle related traffic deaths: Washington State

The Seattle Times has an article, "After reaching sad record last year, WA traffic deaths trend higher," about how traffic related deaths are still rising, while they are plateauing elsewhere.  An interesting point is that there are fewer crashes, but more deaths per crash.  The article discusses what they believe are key factors:

The pandemic-effect narrative has been complicated by the continued rise, despite traffic levels returning to something close to normal. In reality, it’s likely a mix of factors, including more speeding, heavier vehicles, dense development concentrated around multilane roads, and a decrease in traffic enforcement. In Washington, 75% of deadly crashes in 2022 involved one or more of the “fatal four”: impairment, distraction, speeding, and not wearing seat belts.

The reason I bring this up is because many advocates continue to focus on street design--no question that it is important--but the reality is that impairment, distraction, and speeding are frequently more significant factors, especially in cities like Washington, DC.

-- "Revisiting Vision Zero in DC and NYC," 2021

I'd been meaning to write about this, because after some high profile crash deaths in DC, the city has been refocusing on identifying and addressing "bad drivers," since it is bad driving, not street design, that has been a key factor in the majority of the deaths ("D.C. struggles to rein in risky drivers. One car has $186,000 in tickets," "D.C. to begin sending targeted messages to high-risk drivers," "D.C. traffic deaths at 14-year high with low-income areas hardest hit," Washington Post).