KING COUNTY, Wash. — Washington State Patrol is urging drivers to slow down, after responding to 66 collisions in King County alone since Sunday.
According to Trooper Rick Johnson, WSP has been dealing with collisions “nonstop all morning” on Monday.
“PLEASE slow down and be on the lookout for standing water,” he added.
That included a collision where a pedestrian was killed on SR 169 near milepost 20 sometime before 7:40 a.m. Traffic on I-405 at Northeast 124th Street was also backed up for three miles after a separate collision blocked multiple lanes for nearly an hour.
Late in the summer, state leaders sounded the alarm over what they were calling a “worsening traffic safety crisis,” as Washington has continued to pace for its deadliest year on the roads in over three decades.
That’s traditionally driven by a handful of factors, including drivers who are any combination of impaired, distracted, not wearing a seatbelt, or speeding. Of the 750 people killed on Washington roads in 2022, three-quarters were involved in at least one of those behaviors.
©2023 Cox Media Group