OLYMPIA, Wash — Legislators will be asked to take action to combat traffic deaths after the state’s traffic fatality numbers continue to rise.
According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC), the preliminary number of people killed in crashes in 2022 is 740 and 695 in 2021.
Since 2020, the number of people killed in crashes has risen to levels not seen in the state since the 1990s.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said WTSC Director Shelly Baldwin, “I’ve met too many families who have lost loved ones and I see that pain that never leaves them.”
Baldwin said 2023 figures appear to be similar to 2022.
She is giving lawmakers a list of recommendations to reverse that trend in the coming legislative session, which begins in January.
Her list has an emphasis on impairment, a factor in more than half of the state’s deadly crashes, said Baldwin.
She would like the state to reduce the threshold for determining when a driver is drunk, the blood alcohol content figure, from .08 to .05.
Utah is the only other state currently using the .05 threshold.
Baldwin also wants the state to enforce existing laws requiring those convicted of driving under the influence to install required ignition interlock devices.
She said only one-third of those ordered to use them have end up getting them installed.
Baldwin said drivers arrested for DUI should be screened for addiction, increasing their chances of getting treatment and she would like the state to bring back sobriety checkpoints.
Baldwin said 37 other states use them, and said they are a technique that reduced alcohol-related deaths by 9%.
She hopes new laws will convince drivers to make better choices.
“Ninety-something percent of the time it is a decision or a series of decisions that are being made that cause the crash to happen,” said Baldwin, “Completely preventable!”
State Senator Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, chairs the Senate Transportation Committee.
He said restaurants and bars raised concerns about lowering the BAC threshold last year, but he said legislators will discuss the move again next session.
“We want people to enjoy Washington wines, Washington beers, and Washington spirits, we just don’t want them to drive,” said Liias.
He said passing a bill to reinstate sobriety checkpoints in the state could be more difficult because of past court rulings.
“There was a 1980s version that the courts found didn’t meet our constitutional requirements here so we want to make sure we get the law right, that we’re respecting peoples’ privacy, we’ve got due process,” said Liias.
Emma Keller has good reason for wanting to see the state’s drunk driving laws strengthened.
Earlier this month, her sister Samantha Denney, and nephew Adonis Miller were killed in a crash on I-5 in Tumwater.
Investigators said the driver who caused the wreck was going the wrong way on the interstate and had a blood alcohol content of .31, nearly four times the legal limit.
Keller’s niece, Samantha, survived the crash that killed her brother and sister.
On Wednesday the third grader returned to school after meeting some of the state troopers who helped her after the crash.
Scarlett’s mother, Samantha is survived by her parents, Lynne Woodruff and Danny Denney, sisters Emma, Melissa Kayla and brother, Eric.
“Her friends are deeply saddened by the events that have occurred and we all miss her smile and laughter dearly,” said Emma Keller.