NEWS RELEASE

Slow Down or Pay Up - New Speed Law Enforcement and Awareness Project Announced Wednesday October 4

September 27, 2006

On Wednesday, October 4, at 10 am, in Puyallup’s South Hill Mall parking lot (corner of  35th Ave SE and Highway 161), a news conference will be held to announce a new speeding law enforcement and awareness project, called “Slow Down or Pay Up,” as well as to unveil one of the new road signs that will be posted throughout the enforcement zone in Pierce County.  The enforcement zone will encompass Highway 161 on the east border, Highway 7 on the west, 176th St. E. on the South and Highway 512 on the North.  Thirty nine road signs will be posted for two years throughout the area as an extra reminder for motorists to abide by the speeding laws.  The speed law is different than the speed limit and would be enforced when a driver is either exceeding the posted speed limit and/or exceeding a reasonably safe speed for road conditions.

This news conference will take place in the middle of one of the worst areas in Washington State for speeding related crashes.  During 2005, there were 451 collisions on this stretch of Highway 161, 133 of which were directly related to speeding.   When the other two state highways in the enforcement zone are included, this figure jumps to 1,036 collisions, 352 of which were speed related. Taken as whole, more than 1/3 of all the state highway collisions in the enforcement zone involved speeding drivers.

“We’ve learned with the Click it or Ticket project that aggressive, visible enforcement coupled with lots of publicity works to change driver behavior and so we are applying a similar model to this project,” said Lowell Porter, Director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC).

The WTSC will provide more than $200,000 to fund extra speed enforcement patrols which will place up to 20 extra officers per shift (6am to 2pm and noon to 8pm weekdays and 8am – 4pm weekends) on the roadways in the enforcement zone.  Officers from the Bonney Lake, Dupont, Eatonville, Fife, Lakewood, Puyallup, Ruston, Sumner, and Tacoma Police Departments along with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol will participate in this pilot project focusing on speeding.   The first wave of enforcement for the “Slow Down or Pay Up” project officially launches with the extra patrols on Thursday, October 5.

The goal of this pilot project is to reduce collisions and the average speed of motorists, as well as to create a project that is replicable in other jurisdictions.

“We know that speed affects crash severity, and the probability of increased injury in a collision, which is why we are partnering with other local law enforcement agencies to educate drivers on the dangers of speeding,” said WSP Chief John R. Batiste.  “Our goal is to increase public safety, and we are increasing enforcement to reiterate the importance of safe speed in these high collision areas because we need to reduce the severity of the collisions on these roadways in order to save lives,” he explained.

During the enforcement campaign, the speeding law will be strictly enforced. If you are stopped for speeding, you can expect to be written a ticket.

“Slow Down or Pay Up” was initiated by Governor Gregoire, who, in April 2005, during a Government Management Accountability and Performance session, tasked the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, the Washington Department of Transportation and the Washington State Patrol with reducing the number of speeding related collisions.

“This is about increasing the safety of all Washingtonians, not only those driving above the speed limit but also those in other vehicles on the roadway,” said Governor Gregoire.  “We know that speeding is one of the primary causes of collisions and injuries on the roads and this will help to remind drivers to make safe decisions.”

This project is presented by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in conjunction with a monetary grant from State Farm Insurance.  State Farm is a long-time advocate of roadway and occupant safety, working to reduce crash-related deaths and injuries.   “As the leading insurer of cars nationally and in the state of Washington, we bear witness to more traffic collisions - and unfortunately, more crash-related deaths and injuries--than any other insurance company.  We understand, therefore, our responsibility to also be a leader in the effort to prevent these unnecessary tragedies. We are proud to be a partner with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission in encouraging drivers to operate at safe speeds,” said John Bishop, Vice President—Operations, State Farm Insurance.