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Seattle police to conduct road safety emphasis patrols in Rainier Valley

Consider yourself on alert! The Seattle Police Department (SPD) will have a larger presence in the Rainier Valley on Thursday and Friday, October 18 and 19.  SPD will be conducting emphasis patrols to improve traffic safety for everyone using Seattle’s roads as part of the Be Super Safe Seattle effort.

Specifically the patrols will focus on the behaviors that commonly contribute to collisions, injuries and deaths along Rainier Avenue S and MLK Jr Way S such as speeding, impaired driving (DUI), cell phone usage/distraction, and failure to yield.

Rainier and MLK are busy thoroughfares within a thriving community. The goal of the emphasis patrol is to promote safe behavior, not necessarily to write tickets. A big part of achieving this goal is getting the safety reminder out to the public in advance of the emphasis patrol. In doing so we work together to create a safer environment in the Rainier Valley.

We want to reduce collisions and make safer roadways for all users – drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.  Enforcing traffic safety laws in areas with high numbers of crashes is part of this effort’s multifaceted approach to improve safety. The Rainier and MLK corridors will see increased enforcement efforts of this nature frequently.

In Seattle:

  •  33 percent of collisions involve speeding. If a person is hit by a car traveling 40 mph, they have an 85 percent chance of being killed. If that car traveled just 10 mph slower, the person has a 55 percent chance of surviving.
  • Despite new laws that make texting or talking on the phone illegal, there are more than 1,000 distraction-involved collisions each year.
  • Almost half of all fatal collisions involve impairment.

All of these collisions are preventable!  Help us get the word out and visit www.seattle.gov/BeSuperSafe for more information. Remember, no matter how you go, BE SUPER SAFE!