Washington State has had over 300 traffic fatalities since the start of 2023. Additionally, the Washington Department of Transportation estimates that there have been just shy of 1,500 serious injuries due to motor vehicle accidents during the same time.
Overall, the Department reports 1,532 separate motor vehicle accidents that left at least 1 victim either dead or with a serious injury. There are some interesting statistics about these major accidents:
- Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs remains a serious problem on Washington’s roads. Authorities attribute hundreds of these serious accidents to drug or alcohol use.
- Additionally, authorities blamed over 365 accidents at least in part on speeding.
- Distracted driving has also been a major hazard on the highways. Inattentive or distracted driving contributed to over 270 serious accidents.
- Younger drivers, between 16 and 25, were involved in over 465 of the accidents. This is just over 30% of all the major accidents thus far in 2023 in Washington.
- Not surprisingly, most of these accidents happened in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area.
Well-known dangerous driving behaviors are contributing to the state’s crashes
One takeaway from these statistics is that, despite repeated public service campaigns and law enforcement efforts, people in this state continue to practice some very unsafe driving habits.
The recent numbers only confirm that driving under the influence, speeding, and distracted or inattentive driving can kill other motorists. They also can leave accident victims with severe and permanent injuries including, for example, major head trauma or a spinal cord injury.
There is simply no excuse for these sorts of behaviors. If a person causes an accident while driving unsafely, then their victims deserve full compensation for their losses.