Washington state ranks fourth in the county in car fatalities and has risen in the past two years, according to a recent study.
The state’s roads have seen an increase of 36.27% in car crash deaths since 2021, a rate of 11.42 per 100,000 licensed drivers in Washington.
Compare those numbers to 2012, when Washington car crash fatalities were the seventh lowest in the country. In 2012, people died at a rate of 8.38 per 100,000 licensed drivers, according to the study.
The state with the highest increase in car fatalities is Oregon – with a 62.48% increase in the past ten years. Indiana and Illinois came in second and third.
The study was gathered by John Foy, an Atlanta personal injury attorney, using data collected from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
State leaders have been sounding the alarm all summer over what they’re calling a “traffic crisis.” According to data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC), 417 people were killed in traffic incidents statewide through the end of July. That number was at 413 over that same period in 2022. Last year, the state saw its most traffic-related deaths since 1990.