KING COUNTY, Wash. — Over the Labor Day weekend, Washington State Patrol Troopers in King County arrested 26 people for suspected impairment while driving, including in one accident that injured seven people in Seattle on Monday morning.
Since Friday, troopers responded to 114 collisions, including one motorcycle serious injury collision on Saturday on Northbound Interstate 5 near the convention center.
The suspect in Monday's incident is under arrest for investigation of vehicular assault, according to WSP Trooper Rick Johnson. The driver was going the wrong way at the time of the accident, however, it is unknown whether they got on I-5 driving the wrong way on an on-ramp or whether they made a u-turn while already on the interstate.
The crash on southbound I-5 wasn't the only suspected DUI incident on Labor Day; another suspected DUI crash shut down northbound state Route 99 in Seattle for around five hours Monday morning.
WSP and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission recently reported that 2023 is shaping up to be a "historically deadly" year on Washington roadways. Last year, in 2022, there were 750 deaths on Washington roads, which was the deadliest year for drivers since 1990.
Monday morning's crashes happened on a holiday weekend that typically sees a lot of traffic and tragedies.
"We do tend to have many fatality collisions over the weekend. People aren't increasing their following distance; they speed and then there are parties that people celebrate during Labor Day weekend so then you have the impairment aspect as well,” said Trooper Chelsea Dehart.
During the holiday weekend, WSP deployed the mobile impaired driving unit which the agency describes as a full-service police station on wheels.
"Troopers can drop off the person they have arrested for DUI and then a separate trooper will process them there so that we can get the troopers back out on the road,” said Trooper Dehart.