Cracking down on fast drivers: ‘If we can get the public’s support, we know we can save lives’

You're more likely to get killed in a traffic accident involving speed in King County than anywhere else in the state. That's probably not surprising, given the county's population and traffic load. Counting 2004 through 2008, vehicle speed killed 246 people in King County, or 21 percent of the state's total. But what's surprising is that fatal accidents involving speed frequently occur on county or rural roads, outside congested cities, where wide-open spaces tempt a heavy foot.

April 8, 2010 7:22 pm
Law enforcement officers in Washington state will be stepping up traffic patrols this month beginning April 9 to encourage drivers to 'Slow Down or Pay Up.'
Law enforcement officers in Washington state will be stepping up traffic patrols this month beginning April 9 to encourage drivers to 'Slow Down or Pay Up.'

Fatal traffic crashes involving speed frequently occur on county or rural roads, outside congested cities, where wide-open spaces tempt a heavy foot.

Statewide, from 2004-08, 16 people were killed in Island County. In Kitsap County, 51 people were killed. Four people died in San Juan County. And on Easter Sunday, a Friday Harbor student was hospitalized after a high-speed crash in Ballard in which three young men were killed.

Beginning April 9 for three weeks, about half of the state’s roughly 300 police agencies will take part in a first-ever emphasis patrol targeting predetermined areas where speed is a known problem.

Dean A. Radford, editor of The Journal’s sister newspaper Renton Reporter reports on the state’s “Slow Down or Pay Up” campaign.