Washington deploys new tools hoping to prevent summer traffic deaths

OLYMPIA — Summer in Washington is supposed to be a season of celebration: high school graduations, family road trips, long weekends at the lake. But traffic safety officials view it as the most dangerous time of year. The 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are statistically the deadliest stretch on Washington’s roads. This year, the state is expanding efforts to turn the tide on a post-pandemic spike in highway fatalities. “In 2023, we had the highest number of traffic deaths that we’ve seen in 33 years,” said Shelly Baldwin, acting director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Speaking on TVW’s Inside Olympia, she told host Austin Jenkins, “It’s just unbelievable when you think about all the progress we’d made prior to this.”