Clallam County Wants to Know Where Drivers Have Close Calls
Residents are invited to report traffic near misses, unsafe driving, and dangerous road conditions in an online survey open through October 31.
By R.E. Carlino, The Sequim Post
Clallam County has received a $209,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All planning grant to develop a road-safety action plan. The planning effort will identify dangerous locations and recurring roadway risks, helping the county qualify for future grants to fund safety improvements.
According to Clallam County Sheriff Inspector and Target Zero Manager Joshua Ley, the local Target Zero Coalition is seeking public input on roadway safety. The coalition has information about collisions but lacks detailed information about near misses—close calls that could have resulted in a crash, injury, or property damage.
Target Zero is Washington state's traffic-safety initiative, coordinated by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Regional coalitions work with law enforcement, transportation agencies, and community partners to identify dangerous driving behaviors and road conditions and develop strategies to prevent crashes.
Inspector Ley said the coalition has extensive crash data but no formal system for collecting and archiving information about near misses, including observed driving behaviors, roadway conditions, and problem locations.
To fill that gap, the coalition developed a near-miss survey. Ley described it as something of an experiment, noting that the group had been unable to find a comparable survey elsewhere in the United States. The responses will help the coalition identify priorities, recommend roadway improvements, and contribute to the county's developing road-safety action plan.
The survey has been shared through the Clallam County Sheriff's Office social media accounts. According to the Sheriff's Office, the goal is to identify roadway conditions and driving behaviors across the Olympic Peninsula that contribute to close calls, using residents' firsthand experiences to help prevent future crashes.
As the Sheriff's Office put it: “The ‘experts’ don’t know what they don’t know!”
The survey asks residents about unsafe driving behaviors they've encountered, including speeding, distracted driving, failure to yield, crossing the center line, tailgating, and running stop signs. It also invites people to describe situations when they felt unsafe, identify dangerous roads or intersections, and report challenges they've experienced while walking, bicycling, or using motorized transportation.
Clallam County residents can complete the near-miss survey before October 31. The eight-question survey is titled Olympic Peninsula Community Road Safety Survey.
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