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Washington State Fatal Car Accident Statistics l Washington Car Accident Lawyers & Personal injury Attorneys

Traffic fatalities in Washington State continue to decrease over time.  In 1986, Washington had 714 traffic deaths; 10 years later, in 1996, the state incurred a total of 712, a mere 0.3% decrease.  In 2004, Washington experienced an all-time low of 567 deaths, and then an increase to 649 in 2005.  However, in 2006, there were 633 traffic deaths, a 2.5% decrease from 2005, and an 11.1% decrease from 1996.  The average number of traffic deaths per year from 1997 to 2001 was 650.6, and from 2002 to 2006 was 621.4, a 4.5% decrease.

Similarly, the traffic fatality rate per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled has also been decreasing.  Over the last several years, the statewide vehicle-miles-traveled have also been decreasing; however, Washington’s rate remains well below the national average.  If we continue along the same trend line, we would expect 368 traffic deaths in the year 2030.  The average fatality rate from 1997 to 2001 was 1.24 and from 2002 to 2006 was 1.12, a 9.7% decrease.  Overall, the fatality rate has decreased by 42.9% since 1986, and by 15.2% since 1997.  The average fatality rate between 1997 to 2006 was 1.18. 

By comparison, the national fatality rate decreased by 12.2% from 1.64 in 1997 to 1.44 in 2006.  From 1997 to 2001, the average fatality rate was 1.56, and from 2002 to 2006 was 1.47, a 5.8% decrease.  The average national fatality rate between 1997 and 2006 was 1.51, 28% higher than Washington State’s average for the same time period. 

The majority of traffic fatalities occur on rural roads.  From 1997 to 2006, 3,854 people were killed in collisions on rural roads, representing 60.6% of all fatalities.  However, approximately 30% of the vehicle-miles-traveled occur on rural roads, indicating the fatality rate on rural roads is much higher than on urban roads.  The average rural road fatality rate per 100 million vehicle-miles-traveled from 1999 to 2006 (1997-1998 data is not available) was 2.27, compared to the urban road rate of 0.65. 

Most road types, excluding city streets, have a larger majority of rural road deaths, most prominently on State/US Highways and County Roads.  State/US Highways experienced the highest number of deaths, with 2,421 (38.1%) from 1997 to 2006.  However, State/US Highways experience the highest number of vehicle-miles-traveled, and as a result, do not have the highest fatality rate.  Rather, County Roads have the highest fatality rate per miles traveled, at 2.18, compared to the State/US Highway rate of 1.53. 

Males continue to be involved in the majority of traffic collisions—representing 69.1% of fatalities from 1997-2006.  This difference is most prominent in the 21-30 age group, where they comprise 78.3% of the total. 

Overall, 21-30 year olds comprise the largest majority of fatalities, at 21.5%, followed by 15-20 year olds at 16.2%.  When we control for differences in the population, 15-20 year olds have the highest fatality rate per 100,000 population of 19.9, compared to the rate of 16.8 for 21-30 year olds.  At the other end of the age spectrum, 80+ year olds have the second highest fatality rate, mostly due to their low representation in the population and their vulnerability to injury when involved in a collision. 

Whites represent the largest percentage of traffic fatalities, at 85.8%.  However, they also comprise 81.5% of Washington’s population and thus have one of the lower fatality rates per 100,000 population.  Native Americans by far have the highest fatality rate at 28.45, followed by Hispanics with 16.19. 

Fatalities occurred almost equally during daytime hours (49.7%) and nighttime hours (50.3%) from 1997 to 2006.  The time of day with the highest number of fatalities was between 2 pm and 5:59 pm with 22.1%, followed by 6 pm to 9:59 pm with 19.7%.  Research indicates only 10-15% of traffic volume occurs during the nighttime hours.  If we use a conservative estimate of 20%, we find the nighttime fatality rate per vehicle-miles-traveled is consistently 3-4 times higher than the daytime rate. 

A majority of fatalities occurred between July and September from 1997 to 2006 (30.7%).  The single month with the highest number of fatalities was July with 10.9%, while the month with the lowest number of fatalities was February with 6.5%. 

From 1997 to 2006, 59% of fatal traffic collisions were single-vehicle involved.  In addition, 44.7% of those single-vehicle collisions were impaired-driver-involved. 

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