Safe Streets for All (SS4A) is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) comprehensive approach to significantly reducing serious injuries and deaths. The Five County Association of Governments received a federal SS4A grant to develop a Safety Action Plan for Washington County that will outline a holistic, well-defined strategy to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the county.
An analysis of existing conditions and historical trends of crashes involving fatalities and serious injuries over the last several years has been completed. The data was used to compile the Washington County High Injury Network, which identifies the road segments in the county with the highest rate of severe crashes.
High Injury Network (HIN) & Severe Crash Locations
In addition to analyzing crash data, the team also surveyed county residents and visitors on transportation preferences and safety. The 1,663 responses provided input on travel modes, safety perceptions, preferred safety improvements, and demographic information. The community survey results are available in two interactive dashboards:
Public Trends: Modes, Perceptions and Solutions
Location Based Safety Concerns
Crash Trends
In recent years, fatal and serious crashes have grown at exceptional rates nationally. While travel dropped by 1% between 2019 and 2022, national traffic fatalities grew 19%.
The increase in fatal and serious crashes in Washington County has been consistent with national trends. Severe crashes (fatal and serious injury) make up a small percentage of total crashes, but they have increased by 68% in Washington County since 2019.
Similar to Utah statewide trends, Washington County has higher rates of severe crashes during the summer, but unlike statewide trends, the county has peaks in severe crashes in spring (April) and fall (October). The rate of severe crashes in the county significantly increases for weekend days Saturday and Sunday. Table 1 provides the modal distribution of all severe injuries in Washington County from 2013 through 2022.
Vision Zero Goal
Table 1 – Summary of Annual Severe Injuries by Mode in Washington County
| Number of Severe Injuries | Percent of Severe Injuries | ||||||
| Year | Pedestrian | Bicyclist | Vehicle Driver or Passenger | Total | Pedestrian | Bicyclist | Vehicle Driver or Passenger |
| 2013 | 3 | 1 | 66 | 70 | 4% | 1% | 94% |
| 2014 | 5 | 7 | 66 | 78 | 6% | 9% | 85% |
| 2015 | 6 | 4 | 77 | 87 | 7% | 5% | 89% |
| 2016 | 5 | 1 | 79 | 85 | 6% | 1% | 93% |
| 2017 | 10 | 3 | 90 | 103 | 10% | 3% | 87% |
| 2018 | 12 | 3 | 51 | 66 | 18% | 5% | 77% |
| 2019 | 7 | 3 | 77 | 87 | 8% | 3% | 89% |
| 2020 | 8 | 4 | 99 | 111 | 7% | 4% | 89% |
| 2021 | 15 | 4 | 113 | 132 | 11% | 3% | 86% |
| 2022 | 14 | 8 | 124 | 146 | 10% | 5% | 85% |
The Council of Governments and Washington County Commission approved a Vision Zero goal of achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries through a 5 percent yearly reduction in the county.
As depicted in Table 2, a 5 percent annual reduction in severe crashes achieves between a 60 percent and 70 percent reduction in severe crashes by 2045. Meeting the goal of reducing severe crashes by 5% each year will require a focused safety program to cultivate a strong safety culture in the county and to pursue funding opportunities for safety improvements.
Table 2 – Example of the Percent Reduction in Severe Injuries
| 5 Percent Goal | ||
| Year | Severe Injuries | Percent Reduction from 2022 |
| 2022 | 146 | – |
| 2035 | 75 | 49% |
| 2045 | 45 | 69% |
Dixie Metropolitan Planning Organization 