Dangerous driving on Washington roads

Washington roads are dangerous and deadly, but they’re also improving, according to Washington’s Traffic Safety Commission and Washington State Patrol.

“Our job is to – law enforcement and state patrol – is to keep the freeway safe for people to commute,” says Trooper Rick Johnson, with WSP.

But a new video cell phone video shared with KIRO 7 News shows that there is still work to be done to keep drivers and passengers safe. The video shows the aftermath of a crash on I-5 from over the weekend, taken by David Olson. Olson is running for public office, and tells KIRO 7 he’s noticed cases of distracted driving all across the state.

“There’s a lot of construction. There’s a lot of distracted drivers,” says Olson. “I think people need to be diligent, because this happened in the blink of an eye.”

Olson posted a video of a hit-and-run driver to his social media accounts. He says he wants to keep the driver accountable, while reminding other drivers to be careful.

That particular crash wasn’t deadly, though many are.

Last year, 818 people died on Washington roads, the highest number in decades.

But the Washington Traffic Safety Commission tells KIRO 7, ‘Most months from Jan-Aug. show fewer fatalities compared to last year. Assuming this trend continues, we should see lower fatalities in 2024, compared to 2023, but we also can’t let up on our safety efforts in the last quarter of 2024.’

“I think there’s some positive movement, but any one death is one death too many,” says Trooper Johnson.

Trooper Johnson tells KIRO 7 that WSP has also seen a decrease in freeway shootings this year.