Seattle, WA
Seattle has a long road ahead to meet Vision Zero by 2030
Seattle city leaders say they want to end traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. But with some collisions still on the rise, it’s unclear if the city can make that goal.
At Tuesday’s Seattle City Council Transportation Committee meeting, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s chief safety officer opened with a moment of silence.
“To recognize those people who have been impacted by deaths and serious injuries on our streets,” Venu Nemani said.
Even with Vision Zero, traffic fatalities remain high in Seattle
More than 250 people in Seattle were injured last year in some sort of traffic collision, SDOT data shows. Nemani and his department are charged with bringing that number down to zero in less than six years.
Seattle launched that effort, called Vision Zero, in 2015 and since then the city has averaged about 28 traffic deaths per year.
There are some signs of hope. Car driver fatalities, for example, are down overall in Seattle after peaking in 2021.
The challenges of designing safer Seattle streets
“But the story is slightly different on serious injury collisions,” Nemani said. “Across all categories, our serious injury collisions are going up.”
Car violence varies widely depending on where you live in Seattle. Between 2018 and 2022, 8% of collisions occurred in the northwest neighborhoods of the University District, Ravenna, and Laurelhurst. But southeast communities like West Seattle, Fauntleroy, and White Center experienced 22% of crashes.
About a quarter of all city streets are missing any form of sidewalk. The blocks most in need of a safe walkway are in south Seattle and north of Green Lake, according to SDOT.
Nemani told the committee Tuesday that SDOT is working on a three-year action plan to, hopefully, meet Vision Zero’s goals. He didn’t share too many specifics as the plan is still being finalized, but SDOT’s presentation said it will likely include “continuing speed limit reductions with safety corridor projects and implementing arterial traffic calming.”
Nemani said he anticipates the 2024-2026 action plan will be published within the next month.
Pedestrian deaths fell modestly last year, but there’s still a safety ‘crisis’
That’s likely good news for anyone who’s been concerned for their safety on Seattle streets, including members of the Seattle City Council.
Councilmember Dan Strauss shared his experience of healing after being hit on his bike by a driver in 2004. Strauss told Nemani he wants to see SDOT do more and move faster to keep cyclists and pedestrians safe.
“The charge that I’m giving you today is that there are twice as many people as your data shows that are living with serious and chronic pain from being hit on our roadways,” he said.
Can AI reduce traffic deaths? These Seattle engineers are putting it to the test
The department highlighted some bright spots in the city’s collision data. Crosswalk signals that give people more time to cross the street, for example, have helped reduce some turning crashes.
“These trends, while give us hope, also indicate that we have a lot more work ahead of us,” Nemani said.
Despite some overcast skies, thousands of Seattleites showed up in rainbow colors and bright smiles to celebrate the Seattle Pride Parade on Sunday.The march kicked off at 11 a.m. along Fourth Avenue in downtown, and wrapped up around 3:00 p.m. near Seattle Center.Seattle Pride traces its roots to 1974 and has grown into one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations, drawing hundreds of thousands of people each year. (KOMO)
Here are three more coyote sightings reported to us in the past few days:
SATURDAY MORNING: Dwight emailed us this report:
At 9:53 this morning I saw a coyote walking down Brace Point Drive towards the Josslin building. He saw me and quickly changed direction and headed up California Drive. He looked healthy and happy, not starved and miserable .
THURSDAY EVENING: These next two came in almost simultaneously just after 8:30 pm Thursday via texts – this one, from 38th SW and SW Raymond:
This one, from 37th SW and SW Juneau:
You can browse our past sighting reports here.
The Seattle Seahawks are the defending champions following a fantastic run in 2025 which resulted in the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history. Despite this, they’re not the favorites to win their division in 2026.
Instead, the Los Angeles Rams are the hot team, thanks in large part to the addition of Myles Garrett. The two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year does give them a huge boost, but the Seahawks know they can still win their division once again.
Here we dive into three reasons to believe that will be the case for Mike Macdonald and his team.
3. Passing attack will be improved
With Klint Kubiak leaving to take the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders, Brian Fleury is set to take over as the offensive coordinator in Seattle. Fleury spent the past seven years with the San Francisco 49ers and was most recently their run game coordinator and tight ends coach.
He’s expected to feature a run-heavy offense once again, but that doesn’t mean the Seahawks aerial attack won’t be a problem for opposing teams. With Sam Darnold entering his second season with the team, he’s going to have far more comfort with his teammates. As Seahawks On SI’s Russell Baxter wrote, he’s also unsatisfied with his performance in the Super Bowl and wants to improve in 2026.
His motivation, along with the presence of Jaxson Smith-Njigba is enough for the offense to be as dangerous as they were last year. Rashid Shaheed having a full offseason with the team is a reason to believe they can be even better.
2. The run game will be a strength once again
Losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III in free agency was a blow, but the Seahawks made sure to enter the new season with just as much firepower in the ground game. Even with Zach Charbonnet still recovering from a torn ACL, the Seahawks have a strong unit.
Led by rookie Jadarian Price, Seattle also has Emanuel Wilson and George Holani. There might not be many proven options, but as Seahawks On SI’s Michael Hanich writes, the coaching staff trusts this unit.
Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury had success leading the rushing attack in San Francisco last year and his defensive background has him favoring a more violent and punishing rushing attack. That will allow the Seahawks to wear teams down with the ground game, even without Walker.
1. Mike Macdonald continues to build the defense to fit his vision
During his first season as head coach, Mike Macdonald led Seattle to the 11th best scoring defense, which was a massive jump from 25th the prior year. They shot up the leaderboard again in 2025, finishing with the No. 1 scoring defense, which is what led the way during their title run.
Macdonald made those improvements by building the defense to his preference. They have trusted veterans on the defensive line and have built a strong nickel defense with defensive back Nick Emmanwori as one of his key pieces.
This offseason, he added another versatile defensive back in Bud Clark, a speedy pass-rusher in Dante Fowler Jr., and a big-bodied cornerback in Julian Neal. Macdonald also allowed Boye Mafe to leave while putting Derick Hall in position to take on a larger load. All these moves have given them a defense that Macdonald can turn into an even better one than we saw last year.
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