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; 
• 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 Director of the Health Care Authority;
• 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's 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, must be composed of stakeholders with a unique interest or expertise in the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorists.  The Council's purpose is to review and analyze data and programs related to fatalities and serious injuries involving pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorists to identify areas of improvement for the transportation system, as well as patterns in pedestrian, bicyclist, and other non-motorist 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 non-motorist 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;
• a tribal government representative; and
• a bicyclist or other non-motorist 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 must meet at least quarterly and issue an annual report detailing its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the transportation committees of the Legislature.  

Information Disclosure and Liability. In reviewing fatalities and serious injuries in the state, the Council may 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 may 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 independently of this use.  The Council may not publicly disclose any confidential information obtained, such as personally identifiable information or medical records. Council meeting attendants or meeting participants in the development, retention, collection, or maintenance of information or documents may not testify in any civil action regarding the content of the meetings or the documents or information prepared.  Recommendations by the Council and the Commission may 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, Commission staff and Council members are immune from civil liability for an activity related to reviews of particular fatalities and serious injuries.

Health Care Information Disclosure. The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule expressly permits the use and disclosure of protected health information for the public health activities of a public health authority, which includes a state or state political subdivision responsible for public health matters as part of its official mandate. In 2013, the secretary of the federal Department of Health & Human Services recognized the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a public health authority based on its mandate and mission to prevent and reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses related to motor vehicle crashes, and its statutory authority to collect information and conduct research on all aspects of highway safety.

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

• 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
• when needed to protect the public health.  

Such healthcare information is exempt from public inspection and copying.

The Commission is designated as a public health authority, as defined under the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule, to promote and protect public health and safety and to identify contributing factors that most commonly lead to motor vehicle collisions resulting in death or serious injury.  The Commission is tasked with:

• conferring with federally recognized tribes deemed eligible under the federal Highway Safety Act;
• receiving crash reports, toxicology reports, and related investigation information from state and local law enforcement agencies;
• receiving driver licensing records from DOL for motor vehicle collisions resulting in a fatality;
• reviewing traffic crashes resulting in the death of a pedestrian, bicyclist, or other active transportation users, and including members of the Council in these reviews if attendance is less than a quorum of the Council membership; and
• presenting reports of such traffic crash reviews to the Council.

The Commission may, as a public health authority, collect certain health care information, which is exempt from public inspection and copying.  Such health care information must also only be used for Commission purposes, including for anonymized fatal or serious injury collision reports and for providing such 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 to review incidents involving the death of a person resulting from a motor vehicle collision, specifically:
  1. crash information in existing databases;
  2. statutes, rules, policies, or ordinances related to the incidents; and
  3. any other relevant information, including medical records obtained by the Commission;
• 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;
• consult with local jurisdictions and law enforcement on how to improve crash data quality;
• 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, without disclosing personally identifiable information or information with which, in combination with readily available public sources, the public could discern personal information.

Meetings of the fatality review committee are confidential and not subject to the Open Public Meetings Act. Any confidential information must only be used for Commission purposes. Discussions among participants of a fatality review committee during fatal crash review proceedings and documents, other than the final report of the committee, prepared by the Commission are inadmissible and may not be used in a civil or administrative proceeding, unless independent grounds for such review exist.

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, and 911 dispatcher reports, driving record abstracts, and any other information relevant to a review.

The following information and documents related to traffic fatality reviews and obtained by the Commission are confidential and exempt from public inspection and copying:

• driver licensing records;
• health care information; and
• other confidential information obtained by the Commission.

Recommendations from the Commission and the Council may be disclosed, but without personally identifiable information.

If acting in good faith, without malice, and within the parameters and protocols of state law, Commission representatives and fatality review committee members are immune from civil liability for activities related to reviews of fatalities and serious injuries. A private right of action is not created from authorized Commission and fatality review committee activities and actions, except if a Commission representative or fatality review committee member acts in bad faith by disclosing protected confidential information.

No public hearing was held.