This bill creates a new statutory authority allowing counties, cities, towns, or the Secretary of Transportation to designate "crash prevention zones" on public roads where there have been multiple collisions causing serious injury or death. It adds a new section to chapter 46.61 RCW, explicitly authorizes cities and towns in chapter 35.77 RCW, and amends RCW 36.89.030 to authorize counties to establish such zones. The creating jurisdiction or DOT must hold a public hearing with access to a zone map before final designation, then perform an engineering and traffic investigation of roads in the zone to identify safety improvements including possible speed-limit adjustments. The Washington State Patrol and local law enforcement must coordinate increased enforcement in these zones. The bill establishes a $73 monetary penalty for specified speed-related infractions or infractions involving a vehicle collision occurring within a crash prevention zone, provided signs notifying drivers of increased penalties are posted on the roadway. Those penalties must be deposited into a local crash prevention zone account administered by the jurisdiction where the infraction occurred and may be used for engineering and traffic investigations, signs, safety improvements, and increased enforcement. A zone must be dissolved once safety improvements are implemented, may be dissolved at the creating entity’s discretion or by DOT recommendation, and may be ended by a petition signed by 10 percent of property owners, residents, or business owners abutting or within the zone. The text does not give numeric thresholds defining a "multitude of collisions," does not state an effective date or timeline, and lacks detailed procedures for how hearings are conducted, how the crash prevention zone account is created or audited, or how the $73 penalty interacts with other existing fines.

If enacted, counties, cities, towns, and the state Department of Transportation could set up designated "crash prevention zones" on roads with repeated serious collisions, require a public hearing and a follow-up engineering and traffic study, post signs, and coordinate increased law enforcement. People who commit certain speeding or collision-related infractions in a signed crash prevention zone would face a $73 penalty that must be deposited into a local account for that zone and may be spent on studies, signs, safety improvements, and more law enforcement; the DOT can create zones on state highways without local approval, and counties can include city streets only with city approval. The groups most affected are local governments, the DOT, Washington State Patrol and local police, and property owners/residents/businesses in the zone: jurisdictions gain a new responsibility to hold hearings, run investigations, post signs, administer the zone account, and coordinate enforcement, and they may initially incur costs for studies, signage, and enforcement before penalty revenues arrive. Residents and businesses in the zone face more enforcement and potential higher penalties, but also stand to get targeted safety work; important details are missing about exact thresholds for creating a zone, timing, and how the local accounts are managed or interact with other fines, so how quickly and reliably funds will cover upfront costs is unclear.