Washington fatal accident rates have been spiking since enforcement rolled back. Chart created by using state and federal official accident data from 2020, 2021, and 2022 to update a chart from”Target Zero, Washington State Strategic Highway Safety Plan 2019.”  Details in article.

When Washington State legislators implemented  RCW 10.116.060  regarding police pursuit in 2021, they doomed hundreds of Washington motorists to early deaths in 2022.  In two brief years, our enviable record of being one of the safest states for motorists has flip-flopped to where we are on track to be the worst.  Twenty years of safety gains in such areas as drunk driving standards, airbags, car seats, and billions in safer highway design have been been negated with one poorly thought-out new law that lets traffic offenders flee the police with impunity.  The trend is getting worse fast, as reckless car thieves and drunk drivers are quickly figuring out there is no real consequence for simply stepping on the accelerator and going ten MPH over the speed limit to avoid a traffic stop.  In a few short years we’ll all be regularly losing friends and loved ones to traffic accidents, the way some of us remember from our youth.  Even worse, for every death there are three to four serious maimings that will affect someone’s quality of life forever.

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Renton police photo. (Info about this accident available in Renton Patch. Link below.)

As someone in Washington State with both a lifetime career as a transportation safety engineer (33 years), and a city councilmember (28 years), I see the importance of this analysis for the safety of motorists and pedestrians in our state. I have not seen this analysis done by anyone else.  Please share this post widely, including with media. For questions I can be reached at 425-271-6913  (please leave a detailed message).

This is the second post of a four-part series covering the ongoing damage from the 2021 police pursuit law.  Part one covered skyrocketing highway deaths.  Part three will cover the catastrophic crime wave, and part four will cover environmental setbacks from this law.

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“Mad Max Fury Road” features a post-apocalyptic lawless future. My wife and I think of this movie as we get increasingly passed by dangerous, law-breaking vehicles on local highways.

This is part one of a four-part entry about the damage caused by the 2021 Washington police pursuit law.  This entry covers the lives lost to traffic accidents as a result of this legislation.  The associated spike in drunk drivers will be covered in part two, the unprecedented crime wave and it’s horrendous impact on Renton residents and businesses will be handled in part three, and the setback to Washington State environmental progress will be covered in part four.  10/28/2023 Update:  I’ve covered this topic extensively during the past ten months, since publication of this first article. To see these later entries, click here

Last week Washington Transportation Safety Commission reported that 2022 saw the most traffic deaths on Washington roads since 1990, a total of 745 last year.

After decades of positive safety trends on Washington highways,  our lawmakers in Olympia have seemingly put Renton’s and other Washington streets on the path to becoming Fury Road.

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Dear Beloved Renton Community,

After more than 27 years of serving you on Renton City Council, I’ve decided not to seek an eighth term in this coming election season.  A shifting situation in my extended family has caused me to reassess where I want to focus my time and energy in the next few years.  Additionally, I was going to run another term to help the city recover from the pandemic, and now I’m increasingly confident that we can get the COVID-19 crisis behind us, resolve our financial challenges, and restart our businesses before the end of this term.

I am enthusiastically endorsing long-time Renton Chamber of Commerce Board Member James Alberson for my vacant position.  James has served as President of the Chamber Board for six years, and is a business owner and business development consultant who is very active in our Renton community.  I endorsed him during his run for City Council position 3 in 2019 and he came within 2 percent of winning the seat.  A few months later I nominated him as a finalist for the vacant Council 2 position and during his Council interview he demonstrated excellent preparation and readiness for a council position.  He will be an outstanding council member.  Please join me in supporting James.

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To increase our affordable housing options, we have recently completed and approved a ground-breaking new ordinance to encourage backyard cottages.  These cottages, technically known as Accessory Dwelling Units, can be enjoyed by your family or rented out to an individual or family in need of housing.  Our new ordinance gives you a choice of beautiful, pre-approved designs and waives the building permit fees.  We’ve also dropped several other impact fees and slashed hook-up charges.   The City will soon put links on its website that show you how you can begin planning a backyard cottage.  Until the links are up, you can get started by phoning Community and Economic Development at 425-430-7200 and letting them know you would like to get started on an ADU.  As you’ll see in the presentation below, the city can get you approved in just a couple weeks.

Renton Community Planning areas. Map sections in color are withing Renton’s Potential Annexation Area. City limits (at time of printing ten years ago) are depicted by heavy red line.

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Rubber ducks race under our beautiful and iconic Cedar River Library in the 2019 Rubber Ducky Derby, raising money for children’s charities. Courtesy Gary Palmer

Today a newer resident told me that they heard that all of Renton City Council had once tried to move the library off of the Cedar River.  This is simply not correct.  Three of us on Council– Marcie Palmer, Greg Taylor, and I– put up a tireless battle to keep the library right where it is over the river.  Of the three of us that fought to keep it in its rightful spot, I’m the only one still in public office.

The controversy arose shortly after King County Library System (KCLS)  took over the management of Renton’s Library System, and needed Renton to either remodel the existing library or build a new library of approximately the same size.  Three of us on Council wanted to remodel, and the other four wanted to build a new library at the Piazza.  After weeks of debate and public comment, the three of us were out-voted.

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