Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

The Washington Traffic Safety Commission (Commission) was established in 1967, following passage of the Federal Highway Safety Act of 1966, to oversee efforts to improve safety on Washington's public highways.  The Commission is comprised of:

• the Governor, who serves as its chair (and can designate staff of the Governor's Office to act on his or her behalf); 
• the Superintendent of Public Instruction;
• the Director of the Department of Licensing (DOL);
• the Secretary of Transportation;
• the Chief of the Washington State Patrol;
• the Secretary of Health;
• the Secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services;
• a representative of the Association of Washington Cities;
• a member of the Association of Counties; and
• a representative of the judiciary.

The Commission is the federally recognized highway safety office of Washington.  In directing its work, the Commission uses Target Zero–Washington State Strategic Highway Safety Plan.  The Commission also collects fatal and serious injury crash data, engages in research studies, and oversees highway safety pilot projects. 

Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council.

The Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council (Council), convened by the Commission, is composed of stakeholders with a unique interest or expertise in the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorists.  The Council's purpose is to review and analyze data and programs related to fatalities and serious injuries involving pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorists to identify areas of improvement for the transportation system, as well as patterns in pedestrian, bicyclist, and other nonmotorist fatalities and serious injuries.  

The Council may make recommendations on how to improve traffic fatality and serious injury data quality, including for crashes that occur on privately owned property, such as parking lots, and may consult with local cities and counties, local police departments, other law enforcement agencies, and associations representing local cities and counties on methods for improving data quality for crashes that occur on private property. 

The Council may include, but is not limited to:

• a Commission representative;
• a county coroner;
• multiple members of law enforcement who have investigated pedestrian, bicyclist, or other nonmotorist fatalities;
• a traffic engineer;
• a Washington State Department of Transportation representative;
• a Washington State Department of Health representative;
• an Association of Washington Cities representative;
• a Washington State Association of Counties representative;
• a pedestrian advocacy group representative; and
• a bicyclist or other nonmotorist group representative.

The Commission may invite other representatives of stakeholder groups to participate in the Council and may also invite a victim or family member of a victim to participate.

The Council is required to meet at least quarterly and issue an annual report detailing its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Transportation Committees of the Legislature by December 31 of each year.  

Information Disclosure and Liability.

In reviewing fatalities and serious injuries in the state, the Council is permitted to review any available information, including accident information maintained in existing databases; statutes, rules, policies, and ordinances governing pedestrians, bicyclists, and traffic related to these incidents; and any other relevant information.  The Council is authorized to review law enforcement incident documentation, supplemental reports, probable cause statements, 911 dispatcher reports, and any other relevant and necessary information only to the extent otherwise permitted by law or court rule.

Documents prepared by and for the Council are inadmissible and are prohibited from being used in civil or administrative proceedings, unless they are submitted on grounds independent of the Council's use.  The Council is not permitted to publicly disclose any confidential information obtained, such as personally identifiable information or medical records.  Individuals who attend Council meetings or who participate in the development, retention, collection, or maintenance of information or documents for the Commission or Council are not permitted to testify in any civil action regarding the content of the meetings or the documents or information prepared as part of Council Activities.  Recommendations by the Council and the Commission are authorized to be disclosed if they do not include personal identifiers.

When acting in good faith, without malice, and within the scope and authority granted under law, staff of the Commission and members of the Council are immune from civil liability for an activity related to reviews of particular fatalities and serious injuries.

Health Care Information Disclosure.

A health care provider is required to disclose health care information about a patient without the patient's authorization, except for information and records related to sexually transmitted diseases, if the disclosure is:

1. to federal, state, or local public health authorities, to the extent the health care provider is required by law to report health care information, when needed to determine compliance with state or federal licensure, certification or registration rules or laws, or to investigate unprofessional conduct or ability to practice with reasonable skill and safety; and
2. needed to protect the public health.  

This healthcare information is exempt from public inspection and copying.

The Commission is categorized as a public health authority and tasked with promoting and protecting public health and safety.  The Commission's specified responsibilities are expanded to include:

1. receiving crash reports, toxicology reports, and related investigation information from state and local law enforcement agencies;
2. receiving driver licensing records from the DOL for motor vehicle collisions resulting in a fatality;
3. including members of the Council in reviews of traffic crashes resulting in the death of a pedestrian, bicyclist, or other active transportation user; and
4. presenting reports of reviews of traffic crashes resulting in the death of active transportation users to the Council.

A "public health authority" has the same meaning as in federal law, which includes in its definition of the term a public agency to which a state has granted authority to be responsible for public health matters as part of its official mandate.

The Commission is authorized as a public health authority to collect health care information.  This information is exempt from public inspection and copying and may only be used for purposes the Commission is authorized to carry out, including for anonymized reports on fatal or serious injury collisions and for providing these reports and underlying data to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.  The Commission may compile and link data, store information in a secure database, and perform statistical and epidemiological analyses to identify causes and trends in traffic fatalities.

The Commission may convene a fatality review committee, which may:

• review crash information; statutes, rules, policies, and ordinances related to the incidents; and any other relevant information;
• make recommendations on how to improve traffic fatality and serious injury data quality, and consult with local jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies on data quality improvement;
• obtain and examine medical records related to individuals involved in fatal traffic crashes that occur in Washington; and
• publish reports summarizing trends, contributing factors, and policy or program recommendations resulting from reviews.

Meetings of the fatality review committee are confidential and are not subject to the Open Public Meetings Act.  Discussions among participants of a fatality review committee during fatal crash review proceedings and documents, prepared by the Commission, other than the final report of the committee, are inadmissible and may not be used in a civil or administrative proceeding, unless independent grounds for such review exist.  Driver licensing and identicard records and health care information obtained by the Commission related to traffic fatality reviews are confidential and exempt from public inspection and copying.

A "fatality review committee" is comprised of a group of subject matter experts and other members recruited and assembled by the Commission based on their traffic safety experience to review incidents involving the death of a person resulting from a collision involving a motor vehicle, whether on a roadway, at an intersection, along a sidewalk, or on a path contiguous with a roadway.

As otherwise permitted by law or court rule and when relevant and necessary, the Commission may review law enforcement incident documentation, supplemental reports, probable cause statements, 911 dispatcher reports, abstracts of driving records, and any other information relevant to a review.

Recommendations from the Commission and the Council may be disclosed without personal identifying information.

If acting in good faith, without malice, and within the parameters of and protocols of state law, representatives of the Commission and members of a fatality review committee are immune from civil liability for activities related to reviews of fatalities and serious injuries.

Requirements for the use of confidential information do not create a private right of action except if representatives of the Commission and members of a fatality review committee act in bad faith by disclosing protected confidential information.