Vancouver is the fourth-largest city in the state, but it ranks No. 2 when it comes to vehicle crashes that kill pedestrians.
After Seattle, Vancouver experienced the most pedestrian fatalities between 2010 and 2014.
“It hits home for us,” Vancouver police traffic Sgt. Therese Kubala said. “Our hope is that we can stop these instances from occurring.”
The Vancouver Police Department is among nine area law enforcement agencies looking to tackle the problem by participating in a yearlong pedestrian safety project.
Representatives from Clark County law enforcement agencies came together Monday to announce that they have received a $60,000 Pedestrian Safety Zone Project grant so that they can put more officers on the road to protect and educate drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.
The grant will pay for officer overtime, allowing local police officers to increase enforcement in areas that have seen a spike in pedestrian-related vehicle crashes. The money also will pay for educational campaigns aimed at curbing the problem.
From 2013 to 2015 in Clark County, 9.76 pedestrians per 100,000 residents died in traffic collisions, according to numbers from the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
Other local pedestrians sustained serious injuries in vehicle crashes but survived. In Vancouver, 11 pedestrians were seriously hurt in crashes in 2013, according to the data. That number dropped to 10 in 2014 but increased to 18 in 2015.
When it comes to any kind of crash, especially those involving pedestrians, there are a variety of reasons behind them, Kubala said. In some of the cases, pedestrians did not use a cross walk, or drivers were speeding. Some, she said, involved impaired or distracted driving.
Washington State Patrol Sgt. Ryan Tanner said he would like to see the project place officers in driver education classes so they can carry the messages from the classes to new drivers.
“We’ll try to impress in their minds all of these different types of traffic activities and behaviors that result in collisions, particularly with pedestrian safety,” he said.
Now that they’ve secured the grant, police agencies will analyze their crash data to identify the problem areas around Clark County. Then, they’ll plan when and where to increase enforcement efforts.
Kubala said that she’s noticed a lot of pedestrian-vehicle crashes on Northeast 112th Avenue near both Mill Plain and Fourth Plain boulevards in the Vancouver area.
In April, off-duty Vancouver firefighter Andrew Miller, 27, was walking near his home on 112th Avenue just north of Mill Plain Boulevard when he was struck by a northbound vehicle. He died later that night.
Law enforcement timed their announcement of the grant with the anniversary of another horrific crash on 112th.
On Halloween two years ago, 7-year-old Cadence Boyer was fatally injured when an intoxicated driver drove onto the sidewalk near 39th Street and struck the girl, another child and two adults. The group was trick-or-treating.
The man behind the wheel, Duane Abbott, is serving a 16 1/2 -year prison sentence for the incident.
Cadence was one of three people killed that night because of suspected intoxicated driving. And it’s a problem that area law enforcement are tackling with another grant.
Clark County law enforcement also collaborated to earn a $150,000 grant to curb intoxicated driving in Clark County. That yearlong grant will allow agencies to put extra patrol officers on the road once a month to crack down on intoxicated driving.
Additionally, that grant will allow agencies to buy ads to discourage drivers from getting behind the wheel after drinking or using drugs.
