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WSDOT outlines wrong‑way detection, local safety grants and low‑cost fixes to reduce fatal collisions
Summary
WSDOT directors told the House Transportation Committee that wrong‑way driving is increasing and described a program of detection equipment, improved signs/pavement markings, local safety grants and low‑cost operational fixes targeted at high‑risk corridors and vulnerable road users.
Dongho Chang, director of transportation operations at the Washington State Department of Transportation, told the committee on Jan. 20 that wrong‑way driving is a major contributor to high‑severity collisions and that the state has chosen detection and signing upgrades as a short‑term countermeasure.
Scope and data: Chang said wrong‑way crashes account for about 8% of Washington’s traffic deaths and that Washington ties for the nation’s highest rate with Maine; the national average cited in the briefing was about 3.7%. He said between 2019 and 2023 Washington recorded 493 wrong‑way collisions on state highways with 62 resulting in fatalities, and that about 60% of wrong‑way drivers were impaired, with most such crashes occurring at…
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