2021 Safety Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

6 Table 1. Types of collisions, number of crashes and percent of crashes for Kittitas County, all counties-county maintained roads, and all public roads. Type of Collision Kittitas County All Counties-Co. Maintained Roads All Public Roads (Washington State) Number of Crashes Percent of Crashes Number of Crashes Percent of Crashes Number of Crashes Percent of Crashes Number of Fatal Collisions 5 16.70% 670 24.70% 2,538 21.10% Number of Serious Injury Collisions 17 83.30% 2,044 75.30% 9,470 78.90% Number of Alcohol-Related Collisions 9 37.50% 674 24.80% 2,594 21.60% Total Number of Fatalities 5 - 704 - 2,730 - Total Number of Collisions* 650 - 73,172 - 588,324 - Total Number of Injuries** 232 - 32,694 - 240,286 - *Includes fatal and non-fatal collisions **Includes serious and non-serious collisions The 2015 - 2019 WSDOT provided collision data was further evaluated to determine the predominant crash types, contributing factors, and specific locations. As shown in Table 2 below, the predominant causes of fatal and serious injury collisions in Kittitas County are “hitting a fixed object” and “overturning.” Crashes involving fixed-object hazards, or non-traversable roadside slopes within clear zone accounted for 41.7% of all fatal and serious injury collisions. Additionally, 25.0% of the fatal and serious injury collisions were caused by vehicles overturning. Unprotected roadside slopes steeper than 3Horizontal:1Vertical are considered non-traversable and contribute to overturning accidents. The predominant conditions where fatal and serious injury collisions occurred included higher speed roadways with low lighting conditions, and where roadway curvature was a factor. This accident data seems consistent for a county like Kittitas where most of the roadway network is rural without lighting features. Accidents tend to be more severe when speeds are higher and where low light conditions hinder driver acuity, especially in horizontal curves where drivers are more likely to leave the roadway. Non-intersection related collisions accounted for 79.2% of the fatal and serious injury collisions, although a large proportion of total accidents (non- injury, serious injury, and fatal) occurred at intersections and main corridors leading to potential for more serious accidents at these locations. For the fatal and serious injury collisions accident report details please see Appendix A.