The deadly roads of Mason County

Justin Johnson | Oct 06, 20220

Around 8 p.m. Sunday night, Washington State Patrol and Mason County Sheriff’s Office responded to a fatal accident between a car and man sitting in the road on state Route 3 near Deer Creek north of Shelton. A news memo from State Patrol says the driver was not impaired and that the man in the road is the cause of the crash.

About 10 miles south and 30 minutes earlier, State Patrol and MSCO went to a motorcycle accident on U.S. Highway 101 near its intersection with Old Olympic Highway South by Oyster Bay. The motorcycle, according to State Patrol’s release, struck the center cable barrier, where the passenger was knocked off, and then crossed back across the road and struck a tree, knocking the driver off. The driver of the motorcycle and his passenger were airlifted off the highway to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and the passenger died. The news release says the driver faces DUI and vehicular assault charges.

The two accidents are the latest in what has been a deadly year on the roads of Mason County.

Since Jan. 1, nine fatal accidents have happened in Mason County, resulting in 10 fatalities.

“Most of the fatals this year can be attributed to drugs or alcohol,” Katherine Weatherwax, State Patrol spokesperson for WSP’s District 8 — which includes the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas — wrote in an email to the Journal. “If you are going to drink, please have a designated driver, make a plan before you leave the house. There is so many more options for rides now a days, Uber/Lyft. All around the state there has been an uptick in DUIs and serious injury/fatal collisions. We as a community need to come together. If you see someone driving unsafely please call 911, you may be saving someone’s life.”

The nine fatal accidents are more than a 100% increase over the same time period of 2021, which saw four fatalities.

According to Weatherwax, three of the accidents are potential DUIs that are pending blood work results from the state’s crime lab. In two others, the driver was killed, but one allegedly smelled of alcohol. Two involved pedestrians in the road, and another involved a medical condition.

According to Ryan Spurling, Mason County Sheriff’s Office’s chief criminal deputy of patrol operations, MSCO has responded to five fatality collisions in 2022 — some of which overlap with WSP’s incidents.

“Consistently, the four big killers on the roads are speed, alcohol, distracted driving and failure to wear a seatbelt,” Spurling wrote in an email to the Journal.

Spiking traffic fatalities aren’t limited to Mason County, either.

A report by David Kroman in Wednesday’s Seattle Times says neighboring Pierce County saw a 34% increase in traffic fatalities between 2020 and 2021. Sgt. Darren Moss of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department told Kroman that drivers’ speeds spiked in 2020 with the onset of COVID and haven’t really let up.

Back here in Mason County, drivers have been getting faster and aggressive too.

I was recently driving along Wallace Kneeland Boulevard and slowed down to 20 MPH in the active school zone — with lights flashing — in front of Oakland Bay Junior High. I was honked at and a driver sped around me while school children walked along the sidewalks on both sides of the road.

We can — and must — do better than this. Don’t drink and drive, don’t use drugs (prescription or otherwise) and drive.

And slow down. Nowhere you need to be is worth someone’s life or safety.