Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact Information
Dawn Schellenberg
Phone: 206-889-8638
Email: dawn.schellenberg2@seattle.gov
Mayor Wilson Signs Executive Order to Accelerate and Strengthen Seattle’s Vision Zero Work
Executive Order sets new timeline for priority safety projects, expands proven safety tools, and strengthens coordination across City departments
SEATTLE – Mayor Katie B. Wilson today announced an Executive Order to accelerate and strengthen Seattle’s Vision Zero efforts, by advancing priority safety projects, expanding tools to reduce dangerous speeds, and strengthening coordination across City departments. The order advances on safety work already underway and sets new timelines and actions to prevent traffic deaths and serious injuries.
The Executive Order builds on Vision Zero work at the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), including interventions on high-crash streets, improving crossings, building protected bike lanes, and reducing dangerous speeds. It directs the City to move key safety projects forward, expand proven safety tools, and strengthen collaboration across City departments around our shared goal of preventing serious and fatal crashes. The Executive Order also establishes an interdepartmental team to bring together voices and expertise from across the City government — from street design and traffic operations to enforcement and emergency response — to help make Seattle’s streets safer.
“Seattle should be a city where families can feel safe getting where they need to go — whether they’re walking their kids to school, biking to the park, or taking transit,” said Mayor Katie B. Wilson. “We've made important progress, but every serious injury or death on our streets is one too many. We know what makes our streets safer. This Executive Order is about turning our commitment into action — getting proven safety improvements on the ground and bringing the full City together to prevent serious injuries and deaths.”
Moving safety improvements forward
The Executive Order directs SDOT to advance near-term safety improvements and larger projects along some of Seattle’s highest-crash streets, while looking for ways to streamline project delivery.
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Accelerating the implementation of key Vision Zero safety projects, including:
- The SW Wildwood Place protected bike lane for completion by the end of 2026.
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The 12th Ave S Safety Project — Phase 2.
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Safety interventions on high-speed arterial corridors.
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Upgrades at 19 identified high-collision locations, including locations on Aurora Ave N, Rainier Ave S, and 5th Ave.
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Pedestrian head-start signals at 40 intersections.
- Improving visibility at intersections through daylighting.
- Reviewing arterial street lighting and developing a citywide arterial lighting plan for upgrades in coordination with Seattle City Light.
- Identifying ways to streamline project delivery, including establishing an early-delivery phase for High Injury Network corridor projects and improving utility coordination, community engagement and project scoping.
The work will continue to be guided by the Safe System Approach, which recognizes that people make mistakes and incorporates multiple layers of protection to prevent those mistakes from resulting in death or serious injuries.
Reducing dangerous speeds
Speed is one of the leading factors in whether a crash results in a serious injury or death. The Executive Order expands tools the City can use to address dangerous speeds and improve safety for people walking, biking, and traveling on Seattle Streets. This includes:
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Automated traffic safety cameras — up to 10 locations, beginning with a first phase of up to four locations prioritized using safety data and equity considerations.
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Signal operations to reduce vehicle speeds, support pedestrian head starts, and improve safety.
SDOT will also identify opportunities to use traffic-signal operations to reduce vehicle speeds, improve pedestrian crossings, and create safer, more predictable streets.
Strengthening Seattle’s citywide approach to Vision Zero
The Executive Order also strengthens how the City coordinates and tracks its Vision Zero work. SDOT will update Seattle’s Vision Zero Action Plan, and an interdepartmental team will coordinate safety efforts and report regularly to the Mayor on progress toward Vision Zero projects and objectives. The City will also improve public access to traffic-safety information through an online dashboard and expand participation in Seattle’s School Streets Program, with a goal of reaching 40 percent of eligible schools.
The Executive Order also directs the City to pursue state legislative changes to advance Vision Zero, including supporting legislation to lower Washington's blood-alcohol content limit to 0.05 percent, exploring statewide liability protections for jurisdictions that make safety improvements following fatal or serious injury crashes, and identifying other legislative opportunities and barriers to improving traffic safety.
“Providing safe, multimodal transportation access is at the core of everything we do at SDOT, and we know street design can make a real difference in preventing serious crashes,” said SDOT Acting Director Angela Brady. “Across Seattle, we are working to thoughtfully evaluate and redesign streets, improve crossings, reduce dangerous speeds, and build safer connections for people walking, biking, and taking transit. This Executive Order builds on that work and gives us additional tools to continue delivering safety improvements where they’re needed most.”
The Executive Order also takes a broader approach to traffic safety by addressing the vehicles traveling on Seattle streets. The City will develop a plan to improve safety features on the City vehicle fleet, including evaluating additional safety equipment for large vehicles, with a focus on protecting people walking, biking and rolling, and will evaluate opportunities to strengthen safety requirements for large vehicles used by City contractors.
Learn more about Seattle’s Vision Zero work: Vision Zero - Transportation | seattle.gov
What People are Saying:
From Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (Position 8 - Citywide) and Vice Chair of the Transportation, Waterfront, and Seattle Center Committee
“Ten years ago, Seattle set a goal: Zero traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. That goal was right. But too many of our neighbors are gone—and every one of those deaths was preventable. Mayor Wilson moved with urgency today, and I thank her for it. This executive order will save lives. Everyone deserves to get home safe.”
From Gordon Padelford, Executive Director, Seattle Streets Alliance
“We applaud Mayor Wilson taking this important action towards making sure everyone is safe on our streets. Seattle has been talking about the same dangerous streets since the beginning of the Vision Zero program in 2015. In Seattle, 80% of pedestrian fatalities occur on multiple-lane arterials. In particular, the top five most dangerous streets have remained Aurora Ave North, Rainier Avenue South, Fourth Avenue South, Lake City Way Northeast, and MLK Jr. Way South. The Seattle Department of Transportation has the expertise to fix these dangerous streets, but the political will has been lacking. Now they have the mayor’s backing to speed up improvements that will make sure everyone gets home safely to their loved ones.”
From Clara Cantor, Community Organizer, Seattle Streets Alliance
“Improving visibility at intersections is a quick and effective way to make our intersections safer. Most injuries and fatalities in Seattle occur at intersections, but too often people are parking illegally close to crosswalks and stop signs and blocking sight lines. By adding planters, bike racks, or bollards in these areas, we can prevent illegal parking, increase safety by slowing turning car traffic and improving visibility, and make our streets more accessible by providing places to park scooters off the sidewalks. This is a win-win-win that can be implemented quickly, and we look forward to seeing more of these improvements in neighborhoods across the city.”
From Lee Lambert, Executive Director, Cascade Bicycle Club
"We all deserve to get to where we're going safely. Yet, after over a decade working towards Vision Zero in Seattle, it's clear we need to do more to achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries. We know that elevating the issues in the executive order will help get us there. Cascade Bicycle Club thanks Mayor Wilson for her commitment to safe streets. This executive order is the urgent action people who bike, walk, or roll on Seattle's streets need and want."
From Jason Rock, Chair, Rainier Valley Safe Streets
“We are extremely excited to see the Vision Zero EO roll out in D2. For far too long D2 has seen a disproportionate number of deaths due to unsafe streets especially those in the high injury network like Rainer Ave S, MLK Jr. Way S, and Beacon Ave S. We look forward to working with Mayor Wilson and the Seattle City Council to change these streets to eliminate preventable deaths.”
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