Renton is launching a program with a goal of increasing driver safety and reducing roadway deaths.

The Renton Public Safety Action Plan is intended to update the city’s local road safety plan from 2022 and initiate Renton’s first “Target Zero” plan for the city.

“Target Zero is an attempt to reduce roadway-related fatalities and serious injuries to zero,” said Renton Transportation Planning Manager Ellen Talbo. “Some cities even go so far as to establish zero fatalities and serious injuries by a certain date.”

This action started with a grant from 2023 from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program, which awarded the city $400,000 — with $100,000 matching funds from the city — to fund a public safety action plan.

Talbo said through the plan, Renton will explore the possibility of a target date and address roadway-related deaths and injuries in the city.

“Statistics in our local road safety plan have shown us that we do experience occurrences of fatalities and injuries in our road network, particularly among pedestrians in marked crosswalks, as well as speed-related injuries and fatalities,” Talbo said.

Talbo said the city is currently in the process of hiring a consultant to work on the plan, with a goal to begin the plan in the fall 2025.

Talbo said the city will be “far more engaging” with the community in forming the plan. A task force would include public works, police department and communications staff from the city and officials from fire authorities, EMT and emergency response.

“We need their voices at the table as well because they are part of the pie, if you will, in addressing roadway-related crashes,” Talbo said. “We also want to engage with interested community members and particularly community groups from under-represented communities throughout the city.”

Talbo said they want to speak with the people who are taking transit or walking because they don’t normally have the ability to share their opinions at public events. She wants to tour with the task force to learn what makes certain roads feel unsafe.

“Experiences and feedback you can’t get from just looking at tabular crash data,” Talbo said.

From this feedback, Talbo said they can then identify the hot spots and determine why those areas are more dangerous.

“Maybe there’s not enough street lighting. Maybe there’s not a crosswalk. Maybe it’s a skewed road intersection. Maybe there are road geometry issues or is it something else,” Talbo said. “Are there other factors about these locations that we’re not honed in on that we should be aware of?”

Talbo said solutions could include better speed enforcement, improvements to the physical infrastructure or developments of better safety educational programs for the community.

Once the city hires a consultant, they will create a timetable for the plan. Talbo said she would like to see them complete most of this activity in the first 11 months so they can have a draft plan with strategies moving forward.