World Day of Remembrance: Community Voice Concerns About Road Safety
By Asiya Shirwa
MLK, Seattle -
Transportation Justice is a movement that advocates for equal access to transportation for all people. Transportation is an important part of our lives which gives access to jobs, education, and social opportunities. The ability to move around is a right. Transportation Justice is also recognizing injustices and knowing that what happened in the past still has importance.
On Sunday, November 10th 2024, the communities East African Community services and MLK Transportation Justice gathered that day to honor crash victims, discuss how improvements could be made such as stronger legal action, as the goal is to reduce crash fatalities by 2030. There were also elected officials that spoke at the event including Senator Rebecca Saldaña, Representative Chipalo Street, Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, Jess Kim, and Climate Justice Advisor Jonathan Chen expressed their concerns with road safety with the community and discuss the damages crashes bring to an individual who got involved in a collision.
“When someone gets hit, hopefully they have health care and hopefully they can fully recover, but there is a very good chance that they will be affected from that for the rest of their life, and even if they are able to recover, there's a huge cost of that, and we all know that we don't have sufficient health care in our society.” said Representative Chipalo. “And so there's not only a physical aspect of that, but they can push people into debt, and they start a cycle of debt and just hardship that person can't get out of from such an avoidable accident.
Not only does a car crash impact the people involved, it can also affect the victims' families. Car crashes can have an emotional toll on a person. It may cause anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in a victim or their family. And it also may cause a financial strain on a family too as medical bills, therapy, and counseling are expensive. There should be more collective action taken against unsafe drivers but ticketing for an expired tab won’t solve the problem.
“If our police officers are going to be stopping us for traffic safety related incidents, let’s make sure that they are the ones that affect traffic safety the most. Pulling someone over for expired tabs or pulling someone over for a broken turn signal does not necessarily make our streets safer, whereas if police were using stopping people for drunk driving or reckless driving, that would save lives.”
“If our police officers are going to be stopping us for traffic safety related incidents, let's make sure that they are the ones that affect traffic safety the most. Pulling someone over for expired tabs or pulling someone over for a broken turn signal does not necessarily make our streets safer, whereas if police were using stopping people for drunk driving or reckless driving, that would save lives.” said Councilmember Zahilay.
Distracted driving is the number one common cause for crashes and human error is the cause of 90% of crashes. Washington state laws for texting and driving are: Drivers are prohibited from texting or talking while holding a wireless device, or using a wireless device at all unless in an emergency. And according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the year 2024, more than 13,000 deaths were caused by driving while on drugs or alcohol. In the MLK area of Seattle, most of the fatalities involve pedestrians getting hit by trains.
“And then you think about, how do our children feel when they want to be able to play basketball on the streets or soccer, and they have to be afraid they're going to get hit? That's what we're dealing with right here. And the statistics back it up, 70% of the collisions from Sound Transit in all of King County happen right here in the south and on the surface level line.” said Councilmember Girmay. “70% of the deaths that have happened, of people getting hit by a train happen right here in the south end. That's not an accident, and it's beyond the trains too. MLK and Rainier are some of the most dangerous streets in all of King County, not just in Seattle, in all of King County, some of the most dangerous streets.”
Vision Zero’s goal is zero fatalities by 2030. The year 2030 is in a couple of years and yet fatalities have increased by 14% since 2023. The goal to have Seattle be a walkable city may start to fade if this number starts to increase. Representation is also an issue when it comes to meetings discussing transportation justice.
“People are losing their lives, people who look like you. But again, when I go to events about transportation justice, I don't get to see a lot of our faces, we're excluded from the conversation. It's only when hard-working organizers like the MLK safety committee bring us together do we get to be part of the conversation.” said Councilmember Girmay.“And so that's what I want for you. I want you to be part of the conversation. I want you to be part of the solution. That means leaning in. That means connecting with me and me connecting with you, and saying, Come on, let's make some better policies. Let's make our neighborhoods better together.”
Improving the safety of neighborhoods is not impossible. We can work to improve the safety of our neighborhoods by taking action. Going to meetings and events about transportation justice for example is one way to make your voices heard. Education about traffic rules for students can teach the youth how to stay safe on roadways. Showing awareness through social media, local media, and even hosting events to raise awareness about the issue contributes to making sure that our neighborhoods are safer. It is possible when we do it together.
