Target Zero
Washington State Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2024
Zero Deaths and Zero Serious Injuries by 2030
A Plan Born from Community Input
We call our Strategic Highway Safety Plan the Target Zero Plan to reflect our goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on Washington roads. This plan reflects a brand-new, collaborative process. It is the result of regular input from community-based organizational staff and tribal partners, conversations with jurisdictional representatives and state agency partners, as well as responses gathered through listening sessions and in-language outreach to Washington road users, to build the plan from the ground up. The plan will continue to take shape from input from Washington residents throughout implementation.
Bold and Urgent Action
The Target Zero plan represents a bold vision: zero deaths and serious injuries on Washington’s roads by 2030.
The 2024 Target Zero Plan is the seventh version of this safety plan. This update lays out new, ambitious approaches, and a new way of thinking about safety on all Washington roadways through the Safe System Approach.
This living, evolving plan would not exist without input from community members, including input gathered in 2023 and 2024 through listening sessions, conversations, outreach, and statewide surveys.
The time and effort to submit and gather that input is one way we demonstrate the utmost value we place on every human life in Washington State.
In 2023, 810 people died and 3,413 people were seriously injured in crashes involving motor vehicles in Washington. Every one of these people have loved ones and communities affected by their death or injuries.
Those 2023 numbers represent an 85% increase in fatalities and a 78% increase in serious injuries since 2013. With these increases in mind, and as we near the 2030 goal date, we must act boldly and urgently to continuously improve the way we design, operate, and maintain the transportation system and educate road users.
Safe System Approach
Traffic safety requires systems thinking, which allows us to understand and continuously improve the system to reach desired goals.
The Safe System Approach (SSA) recognizes that safety increases when we examine how all parts of the system interact to support and strengthen all other parts of the system. We strive to bring an equity driven, data informed approach to SSA in the Target Zero Plan. Preventing death and serious injury requires multiple SSA elements to be in place, so that if one fails, other layers of protection prevent the most tragic outcomes.
“We need to find the balance between speed and efficiency with regard to motor vehicles and pedestrian/bicycle interactions.” —2024 listening session participant in Yakima County “Structurally changing the roads to make them safer will improve safety 24/7.” —2024 listening session participant in King County A listening session participant in King County said that automated enforcement is effective in areas where she drives. She has observed people driving visibly slower and more safely in areas where speed cameras are used. “We prioritize maintenance for car features of the road, but not sidewalks or bike lanes” —Community listening session participant in Yakima County “Traffic crashes are a legacy of colonization. We did not ask for these roads.” —Tribal Representative, October 2023 Listening Session “In a well-designed system, safety measures make sure that human fallibility does not lead to human fatalities.” —Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Equity
Systems thinking requires us to proactively address patterns and trends across multiple systems to bring about equity-based outcomes.
The equity framework for achieving Target Zero is based on an understanding that historical public policies and investments (and a lack of investments) in transportation, health, housing, and environment have resulted in inequities. This includes equity for rural Washingtonians, as well as racial equity.
Prosocial Traffic Safety Culture
Traffic safety culture refers to our shared belief system about our individual actions that affect safety.
Prosocial traffic safety culture goes further, referring to shared beliefs about our responsibility for collective actions that create a safe transportation system for everyone. Collective responsibility includes road owners and operators, as well as all road users.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary & Policy Recommendations — Page i
Policy Recommendations — Page vi
Acknowledgements — Page viii
Introduction — Page 1
Transportation Safety: A Call to Action — Page 4
Systems Thinking — Page 7
Prosocial Traffic Safety Culture — Page 9
Equity Framework — Page 11
Tribes and Target Zero — Page 18
The Safe System Approach — Page 23
Current Conditions — Page 34
Crash Data Collection — Page 36
Community and Local Agency Engagement — Page 37
Emphasis Areas Selection — Page 47
Emphasis Areas and Countermeasures — Page 51
Integrating the SSA Elements: Strengthen All Parts — Page 53
Emphasis Area Categories — Page 54
High Risk Behavior — Page 55
Crash Type / Location — Page 80
Road Users by Age Group — Page 95
Road Users by Mode of Travel — Page 104
Supporting Systems – Page 123
Emergency Medical Response — Page 125
Traffic Data Systems — Page 127
Implementation & Evaluation – Page 133
System Collaboration and Integration — Page 135
Implementation Process — Page 139
Measures and Accountabilities — Page 140
Appendices – Page 141
Appendix A: Acronyms
Appendix B: Select Emphasis Area Strategies
Appendix C: Target Zero Data Sources
Appendix D: Vulnerable Road Users Safety Assessment
Appendix E: SHSP Update Process and Federal Requirements
Appendix F: Safety Performance Measures
Appendix G: Special Thanks
Request Target Zero Plan materials in your language
We commit to making the Target Zero Plan accessible to all Washingtonians. If you need materials in a language other than English, please fill out the form below. We will provide the requested materials as soon as possible.
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
我们承诺让所有的华盛顿居民都可获得零目标计划（Target Zero Plan）的资讯。如果您需要非英语以外的资料，请通过此表格提供您的姓名 (Name) 和电子邮件 (Email)，并选择所需语言 (Requested language)，或输入其它语言 (Other languages)。我们将尽快提供您所需的资讯。
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
我們承諾讓所有的華盛頓居民都可獲得零目標計劃（Target Zero Plan）的資訊。如果您需要非英語以外的資料，請通過此表格提供您的姓名（Name）和電子郵件（Email），並選擇所需語言（Requested language）或輸入其他語言（Other languages）。我們將盡快提供您所需的資訊。
한국어 (Korean)
저희는 워싱턴주에 거주하는 모든 주민분들께 Target Zero Plan을 알리고 주민분들이 관련 자료를 이용하실 수 있도록 최선을 다하고 있습니다. 영어 이외의 언어로 된 번역본이 필요하신 경우, 아래 양식을 사용하여 귀하의 이름(Name)과 이메일(Email)을 입력하시고, 원하는 언어(Requested language)를 선택하시거나 직접 입력(Other languages)해 주세요. 요청하신 자료는 최대한 신속히 제공해 드리겠습니다.
Русский (Russian)
Мы обязуемся сделать программу по достижению нулевой смертности от автодорожных происшествий «Цель – ноль» (Target Zero) доступной для всех жителей штата Вашингтон (Washington). Для получения материалов на языке отличном от английского, укажите свое имя (Name) и электронную почту (Email), а также выберите желаемый язык (Requested language) или укажите его (Other languages) в данном бланке. Мы предоставим запрашиваемые материалы в кратчайшие сроки.
Af Soomali (Somali)
Waxaa naga go’an inaan ka dhigno qorshaha Target Zero mid ay heli karaan dhammaan dadka Washington. Haddii aad u baahantahay macluumaad aan ahayn ingiriis, fadlan bixi magacaaga (Name) iyo iimayl (Email), doorana luuqadda aad rabtid (Requested language) ama qor (Other languages) adigoo isticmaalaya foomkan. Waxaan ku siin doonaa macluumaadka aad codsatay sida ugu dhaqsiyaha badan ee macquulka ah.
українськa (Ukrainian)
Ми зобов’язуємося зробити план Target Zero (ціль – нульова смертність) доступним для всіх мешканців штату Вашингтон. Якщо вам потрібні матеріали іншою мовою, окрім англійської, вкажіть ваше ім’я (Name) та електронну пошту (Email), оберіть бажану мову (Requested language) або введіть її вручну (Other languages) за допомогою цієї форми. Ми надамо матеріали в найкоротші терміни.
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Chúng tôi cam kết tất cả người dân Washington đều có thể tiếp cận kế hoạch Target Zero. Nếu Quý vị cần tài liệu bằng ngôn ngữ khác ngoài tiếng Anh, vui lòng cung cấp tên (mục: Name), địa chỉ email (mục: Email) và chọn ngôn ngữ mong muốn (mục: Requested language) hoặc nhập ngôn ngữ của Quý vị (mục: Other languages) vào biểu mẫu này. Chúng tôi sẽ cung cấp tài liệu yêu cầu trong thời gian sớm nhất có thể.
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