The release Wednesday of 2010 data on traffic-related deaths meant good news for Washington, while Clark County was left out of the celebration as traffic deaths here increased by more than 70 percent.
The 448 known traffic fatalities statewide is an all-time low since Washington’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System launched in 1975, according to preliminary data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Clark County’s traffic death toll grew from 14 in 2009 to 24 in 2010.
It was the fifth consecutive year fatalities have fallen statewide.
Detective Jim Payne of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said figures taken in small samples bounce up and down with the “change of the winds.”
Numbers notwithstanding, he and other local officials said Clark County is aligned with the rest of the state in using a combination of public safety education campaigns, emphasis patrols targeting drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs and the enforcement of a bolstered law prohibiting talking or texting while driving to curb fatalities.
“The catchphrase programs that are run by WTSC all have an impact,” said Payne, citing the “Click it or Ticket” effort as an example.
Payne said the current trend seems like a turning point as the state pursues its goal of zero traffic deaths by 2030 as part of its Target Zero plan. Prior to 2010, the fall in local deaths was steep — there were 29 deaths in 2008 and 2009 combined, shy of the 32 in 2007.
“Zero is a pipe dream, but any reduction we can get is positive,” Payne said.
In 2009, curtailing the number of impaired and young drivers, ages 16 to 25, topped the list of priorities aimed at reducing fatalities in Clark County.
Marion Swendsen of the sheriff’s office coordinates the county’s participation in the Target Zero initiative, which was designed to identify traffic safety needs and strategies to meet them. She said the focus in Clark County has been on DUIs, which decreased from 2010 to 2011 during emphasis patrols.
There were 45 DUIs issued during 10 days of targeted enforcement anchored around St. Patrick’s Day this year, down from 71 just a year earlier. “That’s a significant decrease,” Swendsen said.
Trooper Steve Schatzel of the Washington State Patrol said reducing fatalities is “something we work really hard at.”
He said unmarked cars are used to identify and ticket aggressive drivers.
Schatzel said the strengthening of the state’s cellphone law has made a positive impact. “Anything that’s going to distract (drivers) causes fatalities,” he said.
Both locally and statewide, officials were in agreement that the number of traffic-related deaths is still too many.
“We saw a lot of improvement in 2010, but there is more work to be done,” Chief John Batiste of the state patrol said in a news release. “Troopers will continue to take swift action on the three violations that we know take the most lives: speeding, impaired driving and the failure to wear seat belts. Eliminating those three violations would, just by themselves, get us most of the way to Target Zero.”
Swendsen of Clark County said the statewide data affirms “we’re on the right track. ”An all-time low wasn’t necessarily expected, though, she said.
“Everybody’s just kind of going, ‘What?’”
