Target Zero Plan — DRAFT
What is the Target Zero Plan?
Target Zero is Washington State’s plan to improve road safety for all road users and reach the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries on Washington’s roadways. Here is the draft.
The Target Zero Plan was developed by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and identifies strategies to improve Washingtonians’ safety as they travel across the state.
The Target Zero Plan also serves as the state’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), guiding the state’s use of federal dollars on transportation projects.
We Want Your Feedback
The draft plan is available for review by the public between July 15 and August 14, 2024. The final plan will be released in October 2024.
You can provide feedback on specific sections of the plan or on the entire plan using this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3V85H5J
How is the Plan organized?
The Target Zero Plan update is organized around the Safe System Approach and focuses on supporting a prosocial traffic safety culture—our shared beliefs about joint actions that create a safe system. The Safe System Approach recognizes that humans are vulnerable and make mistakes. It also recognizes that preventing traffic fatalities and serious injuries requires a layered approach to safety and collaboration between government, industry, advocates, and road users.
- Part 1 of the plan introduces traffic safety, the Target Zero concept, and the plan’s foundational elements: prosocial traffic safety culture, the equity framework, and the Safe System Approach.
- Part 2 summarizes current safety conditions and what we heard from the community during the plan development. It also provides data about each of the 11 emphasis areas—the conditions and risk factors that are most prevalent in fatal and serious injury crashes.
- Part 3 describes how those emphasis areas overlap and the priority strategies planned to address each and move toward a safer transportation system.
- Part 4 provides a framework for implementing Target Zero, including a discussion of traditional and influencer partners. Additional implementation planning begins once this document is final.
Why is this plan important?
The Target Zero Plan is designed to help save lives and reduce serious injuries and death from roadway crashes in Washington State. This is more important now than ever. Equity related to race and socioeconomic factors is a critical focus, in addition to disparities in investment between urban and rural areas. From 2019-2023, fatal crashes in Washington State have increased from 538 to 810. The strategies in the plan are designed to reverse that trend.
The Target Zero Plan:
- Provides high level guidance to state and local decision makers on the best policies and strategies to help improve the safety of everyone who uses our roads, including those who are driving, walking, biking, or rolling.
- Provides suggestions and concrete examples of what changes are likely to improve safety.
- Is used by state and local leaders who want to leverage the use of federal traffic safety funds awarded to Washington State.
- Recognizes the importance of focusing on geographic areas with demonstrated historical underinvestment to add safety infrastructure and provide grants for behavioral traffic safety.
How did community input inform the plan?
WTSC and WSDOT identified Yakima County and south King County (including South Seattle) as priority geographic areas given crash data that showed that people in those areas are more likely to be involved in fatal or serious injury crashes, and that those crashes are more likely to affect vulnerable populations in those communities. Data on fatalities by state, county, city, and demographic group can be found on the WTSC Fatalities Dashboard and on other WTSC Data Dashboards.
WTSC and WSDOT collaborated with community and Tribal partners in addition to state and local agency partners throughout plan development, providing opportunities for partners to learn about the plan, share their concerns and their ideas for what would improve traffic safety, and inform elements of the plan.
We want to hear from you!
WSTC and WSDOT need feedback on the plan from the people who live or travel in Washington state.
You can provide feedback on specific sections of the plan or on the entire plan.