Skagit Regional Safety Action Plan
On February 18, 2026, the Skagit Council of Governments Transportation Policy Board adopted the first Regional Safety Action Plan. The purpose of the Regional Safety Action Plan is to reduce or eliminate deaths and serious injuries in Skagit County.
This Plan is a strategic plan for communities in Skagit County to improve the safety of the transportation system by taking a systematic and data driven approach to reducing roadway deaths and serious injuries. The Plan follows the United States Department of Transportation, National Roadway Safety Strategy principles and elements of the Safe System Approach.
Safe System Principles:
- Death and Serious Injuries are Unacceptable. A Safe System Approach prioritizes the elimination of crashes that result in death and serious injuries.
- Humans Make Mistakes. People will inevitably make mistakes and decisions that can lead or contribute to crashes, but the transportation system can be designed and operated to accommodate certain types and levels of human mistakes and avoid death and serious injuries when a crash occurs.
- Humans Are Vulnerable. Human bodies have physical limits for tolerating crash forces before death or serious injury occurs; therefore, it is critical to design and operate a transportation system that is human-centric and accommodates physical human vulnerabilities.
- Responsibility is Shared. All stakeholders, including governments at all levels, industry, non-profit/advocacy, researchers, and the public, are vital to preventing deaths and serious injuries on our roadways.
- Safety is Proactive. Proactive tools should be used to identify and address safety issues in the transportation system, rather than waiting for crashes to occur and react afterwards.
- Redundancy is Crucial. Reducing risks requires that all parts of the transportation system be strengthened, so that if one element fails, the other elements still protect people.
