Laserfiche WebLink
Introduction <br />The Kittitas County Road Safety Plan is a comprehensive program of safety improvements on county <br />roads. This program of improvements was developed by determining the types of crashes that occur <br />disproportionately in our county as compared to all counties in the state and all public roads In the <br />state. Analysis was performed to reveal where crashes are occurring and other factors that could <br />contribute to crashes including the roadway characteristics, time of day, and type of vehicle. <br />Data used for this evaluation was provided by Washington State Department of Transportation <br />(WSDOT). The data was from four years of detailed information about crashes on Kittitas County roads <br />(2008 through 2012). WSDOT directed Kittitas County to prioritize needed safety improvements eligible <br />for WSDOT Safety Program grants based on this collision data. <br />The collision data showed that fatal and serious injury collisions occur at a disproportionately higher rate <br />on county roads than on all public roads in Washington State (see Table 1). Therefore, this Safety Plan <br />focuses on reducing potential fatal and serious injury collisions in Kittitas County. <br />TABLE 1 <br />2008 through 2012 Crash Data <br />Collision Severity <br />All Counties -Co. <br />Kittitas County MaIntained Roa ds All Public Roads <br />%0/ %01 %0/ <br />Collision Typ e H eraS/les cras hes # crashes crosh es #a:ashes C(tuhes <br />Fatal 5 0.7% 682 1.0% 2,190 0 .4% <br />Serious Inj uries 24 3.6% 2,564 3.6% 10,257 2.0% <br />Pr op erty Dam age On ly 644 95.7% 67,03 2 95.4% 501,547 97 .6% <br />Total Collision Ty pes 673 --------70,278 -------513,99 4 ... -.. ---- <br />As shown in Table 2 below, the cause of fatal and serious injury collisions in Kittitas County is typically <br />due to "hitting a fixed object" and "overturning." Out of all ofthe fatal and serious injury collisions, 69% <br />were caused by drivers running into a fixed object such as ditches, embankments, and fences. An <br />additional 21% of the fatal and serious injury collisions were caused by vehicles overturning. Fatal and <br />serious injury collisions mainly occurred under at least one of the following types of conditions: dark or <br />dusk lighting, at non-intersection locat ions, on roadway curves (horizontal curve). exceeding safe speed, <br />crossing over the centerline, vehicle type of motorcycle, and on roads with 50 mph speed limits. See <br />Table 2 for more details .