Personal Injury Law

Making Seattle's Roads Safer: Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program

By Kirk Bernard, Esq.

On August 12, 2009, Seattle?s Department of Transportation announced its intent to increase safety in the Ballard Community by implementing a two-phase plan to impede speeding. In order to steer drivers in the right direction towards increasing safety, the program will focus on making motorists driving through neighborhoods aware of how fast they are driving. Representatives from the Department of Transportation stated that the program is aiming to fulfill neighborhood concerns regarding ways to ease traffic volumes and decrease the amount of cut-through traffic, as well as hinder traffic speeds in the process. In fact, it has been reported that a radar gun will supposedly be lent to residents that would like to measure and report the speed of drivers on their street so that they can play an active role in the department?s efforts.

The program?s Phase 1 measures include speed watch trailers, Neighborhood Speed Watch signs, Seattle Police Department enforcement requests, painted intersections, parking management measures, and yard-placed signs advocating driver awareness to reduce speeds. If these tools turn out to be ineffective at reducing speeds on residential streets, physical traffic calming devices such as speed humps, movable barriers, and traffic circles are likely to be installed as part of Phase 2.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation?s 2005 Highway Collision Data Summary, speeding is consistently the number one contributing circumstance for auto accidents throughout all the regions of the state. When someone causes an auto collision because he or she was speeding, that person is responsible for committing a negligent and careless act in which he or she may be held financially accountable for the costs associated with another person?s injuries or property damage. Speeding accidents are one of the most preventable types of car accidents, and programs such as the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program will hopefully remind drivers about how serious operating a motor vehicle truly is in order to create safer Washington communities.

Full post as published by Seattle Injury Blog on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).