Amy Freedheim, who helped lower the legal blood-alcohol limit and elevated vehicular homicide penalties, vows to keep advocating for safer roads in retirement.

SEATTLE — Amy Freedheim, the chair of the Felony Traffic Unit at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, is retiring after 35 years in the courtroom. 

She leaves behind a career defined by policy reforms, victims she’ll never forget, and an unfinished push to lower Washington state’s legal blood-alcohol limit to .05%.

“I really felt passionate about traffic safety. I think it’s the most avoidable fatality,” said Amy Freedheim.

Freedheim remembers an early case, the drunk-driving death of a