Washington Injury Law Blog

A glitch has happened in several Washington cities, which prevented them from correctly adopting the new cell phone law.  This means if you received a recent ticket for using your cell phone while driving it might be unenforceable in certain Washington cities.

When the Washington legislature passes a new law, the local city governments must add them to their local city laws.  Apparently some cities depend on the Washington Department of Licensing and its rule book, called the Model Traffic Ordinance (MTO).  The Department of Licensing is suppose to update the MTO whenever a new traffic law is adopted by the State of Washington.  Many cities adopt the MTO as an economical way to stay on top of law changes.  A recent question about the validity of the laws by Lynnwood Police led to the discovery of the problem.  In fact the MTO had not been update since 2004.

Why is this significant?  Because cities don’t have authority to enforce state laws unless they have also adopted them in their local ordinances.  Many traffic tickets, including cell phone ones, are now invalid for certain cities on traffic laws enacted since 2004.

I know, which cities??  Some of the cities that failed to adopt the new cell phone law properly may include Bremerton,  Montlake Terrace, Monroe, Ephrata, and Prosser.   There may be more, it’s best to check with the Department of Licensing if you have a question.

Which cities are OK?  Any tickets issued by the Washington State Patrol are valid.  As are all cell phone tickets from police in Seattle, Bellevue, Lynnwood, and Tacoma.

The City of Bremerton has chosen to dismiss 83 tickets its issued since June on the new cell phone law, plus any dating back to 2008 when the first part of the cell phone law was adopted.  In addition, they are refunding any fines paid for the tickets, which ranged from $124 to $176.

Happy day for some drivers!

Last Friday I posted about the formation of another police task force.  Washington State Patrol formed DUI “Target Teams,” which I have dubbed “A-Teams,” to fight drunk drivers and eliminate DUI related fatal Washington car accidents by 2030.

The results are in and 57 drunk drivers were cited over the 4th of July holiday weekend.  There was a single fatal car accident, however, it has not yet been determined if alcohol played a factor in the single vehicle car crash that took the life of a Washington woman.

Washington Drivers Beware!  Looks like the WSP Troopers are serious about cracking down on DUI in the King, Pierce and Snohomish County area.  Good news for road safety!

As the 4th of July holiday starts the Washington State Patrol has formed a crack “A-Team” of DUI enforcement troopers to track down more drunk drivers. The new task force will cover three Washington counties: King, Snohomish and Pierce County. The WSP teams only job is to arrest drunk drivers.  The goal is to eliminate all Washington DUI related car accident deaths by 2030.

WSP is actually calling the task force “Target Teams.” The teams are made of the 21 WSP Troopers with the best track record of DUI arrests. The crack teams will be on the roads 7 days a week according to the WSP, with extra man-power on the weekends.

Since 2002 there has been on average a total of 220 people killed per year in Washington car accidents involving drunk drivers. Police are going to be targeting hot spots for DUI drivers. Can anyone say Kirkland!

Do yourself and other drivers a favor and take a cab if you’ve been drinking. The life you may save is more than worth the $30 dollar cab ride.