Vehicle-related deaths rose 11% in Washington last year, despite a national 3.6% decrease, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics.

Why it matters: The percentage of fatal crashes went up statewide between 2022 and 2023 even as the total number of crashes went down, per Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) data.

Zoom out: Fatal crashes in Washington have increased since COVID, from 517 in 2019 to 596 in 2021, WSDOT reports.

• There was a presumption that the increase was somewhat tied to the pandemic and lockdowns, Clay Peterman, a transportation safety engineer for WSDOT, told Axios, but they have not gone down since the lockdowns were lifted in 2021.
• In fact, fatal car crashes in Washington reached record highs both in 2022 and 2023, per the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

Threat level: In Washington, 75% of deadly collisions are attributed to what the commission calls "the fatal four": impairment, speeding, distraction and not wearing seatbelts, with distracted driving accounting for about 23% of the deaths in 2022.

To reduce distracted driving, highway safety regulators across the country are kicking off a new campaign — "Put the Phone Away or Pay" — that targets younger drivers, who are the most likely to die in distraction-related crashes, writes Axios' Joann Muller.

• The campaign's "high-visibility enforcement" portion runs April 4–8 and targets drivers 18 to 34. Fines average $100 in most states.

Reality check: There are lots of other things besides phones that can distract people behind the wheel, said Peterman, who noted he's seen people reading books and shaving.

Plus: "We don't have hard numbers to support this, but anecdotally and from talking to other people, it feels as if drivers are more aggressive," Peterman said.

• Washington State Patrol trooper John Dattilo agreed, telling Axios that aggression on the state's roads is real and may be connected to the increase in the frequency of reported shootings.
• "It can definitely be scary out there."

Flashback: Changing driving habits can take time. Today, 91% of people buckle up, according to government data, but getting Americans to wear seat belts was a decades-long effort.

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From a joke that went too far to the original Starbucks, springtime is a trove of Seattle history. Here's a look back, sourced from state history encyclopedia HistoryLink and local news archives.

April 1, 1989: For April Fools' Day, KING 5 sketch comedy show "Almost Live" "reported" that the Space Needle had collapsed. It was a joke, but many viewers took it seriously.

• Calls from concerned citizens flooded the Space Needle, the Seattle Police Department and KING 5's phone lines.
• "A lot of people wanted us fired," "Almost Live" host John Keister recalled on the prank's 20th anniversary.
• In 1999, "Almost Live" ended its run of hyperlocal comedy sketches, including classics like "The Ballard Driving Academy" and "Pike or Pine."
• But the show lives on in every Seattleite's confusion over whether that one really good Thai place is on Pike or Pine — and on Aug. 31, the show will be memorialized in a MOHAI exhibit.

April 2, 1900: In his push for the Democratic presidential nomination, "The Boy Orator of the Platte" William Jennings Bryan arrived in Seattle, where he railed against the gold standard.

• "As he stepped from the train he came face to face with a crowd conservatively estimated at between 10,000 and 12,000," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported from the scene.
• Bryan's message appealed to some, but he lost the presidency to William McKinley (and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt).

March 30, 1971: The first Starbucks in Seattle opened, but it didn't sell espresso — just beans.

• Visitors often mistake the Pike Place Starbucks for the original, but the real thing was at 2000 Western Avenue, in a building that no longer exists.

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🥔 Sen. Maria Cantwell is among the lawmakers pushing to keep potatoes classified as a vegetable after a government agency suggested it might recategorize them as a grain. (Tacoma News Tribune)

🌊 Southern resident orcas could be on the brink of extinction, new research shows. (Seattle Times)

🍔 Burgermaster is taking over the site of Issaquah's dearly departed Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-In, with a limited menu coming this summer. (KING 5)

🍎 Seattle Public Schools is expected to appoint new board members today following two resignations earlier this year. (Cascade PBS)

A photographer captured a bird's-eye view of a collision between a San Jose Sharks player and Yanni Gourde of the Seattle Kraken during a match on Monday.

• The Kraken won 4-2, keeping hope alive for a spot in the playoffs.

State of play: With eight games remaining in the regular season, Seattle is 12 points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the final Western Conference wild-card berth, Reuters reported.