Billboards encouraging safe driving behavior installed on Rainier Avenue South

May 25, 2007

SEATTLE, WA - As part of the campaign to decrease fatal and disabling collisions along Rainier, SDOT and the WA Traffic Safety Commission are installing billboards urging drivers to ‘slow down.’ SDOT developed the billboards to encourage a desired action (slow down) and illustrate the consequence of not doing so.

“More than 600 crashes happened along the Rainier Corridor last year. We hope the images resonate, we want people to slow down,” Said Grace Crunican, SDOT Director.

Messages are based on the results of two focus groups, one with Vietnamese speakers and the other with English. Participants were male drivers and ranged from about 20 to 45 years old, because statistically they are involved in more crashes. With over 60 languages spoken along the corridor, it is important the message be direct and simple. Both groups produced similar results: for example, use minimal number of words and pictures should illustrate the cost (both fiscal and life) of driving too fast. The first billboard was installed last week on Rainier Avenue S. just north of S. Walker Street. It will remain in place for four weeks. The billboard will move to three more locations along the corridor including: Brandon Street, 42nd Avenue S. and S. Thistle Street. The campaign lasts a total of 16 weeks.

The Rainier Traffic Safety Project uses a three pronged approach—education, enforcement and engineering and the City hopes to replicate the success of other statewide corridor safety programs. Similar programs have seen an average 25 percent reduction in fatal and disabling accidents. The two year project, launched in 2006, is implementing $185,000 in street improvements and stepping up enforcement efforts focused on speeding, failure to yield to motorists and pedestrians, and driving under the influence. The safety project builds on Mayor Greg Nickels’ Southeast Seattle Action Agenda and 10-point pedestrian safety campaign.

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