Skip to main content

California traffic deaths drop for fifth consecutive year

California saw a decline in overall traffic deaths for the fifth year in a row. According to federal government figures, total vehicle fatalities dropped 11.9 per cent, from 3,081 in 2009 to 2,715 in 2010. Since the latest high of 4,333 in 2005, the 2010 figures show a total decline of 37.3 per cent.
April 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSCalifornia saw a decline in overall traffic deaths for the fifth year in a row. According to federal government figures, total vehicle fatalities dropped 11.9 per cent, from 3,081 in 2009 to 2,715 in 2010. Since the latest high of 4,333 in 2005, the 2010 figures show a total decline of 37.3 per cent.

The 2010 figures are the lowest for the state since 1944, when one tenth the number of vehicles travelled one sixteenth the number of miles. While the economy has some effect, officials also point to high visibility enforcement, sobriety checkpoints, multiple public awareness campaigns, safer car construction, better road design, and faster emergency medical services as factors.

"Well-managed traffic safety campaigns by law enforcement throughout the state targeting dangerous driver behaviour is a factor in the continued reduction of traffic-related deaths and injuries," said 1855 California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow.

Under a shared vision of Toward Zero Deaths – Every 1 Counts, state and local agencies and organisations have been developing and implementing the California Strategic Highway Safety Plan since 2006. OTS, CHP, 923 California Department of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 831 Federal Highway Administration, county and local governments, as well as individuals and community organisations like 4949 Mothers Against Drunk Driving have been actively pursuing work on over 150 specific actions contained within Plan.

So that 2012 will continue the gains, the Office of Traffic Safety has now announced $76 million from federal funding to support 213 traffic safety grants to state and local agencies for the grant year that begins on 1 October, 2011. The new grants are a combination of time-tested, successful programmes and emerging efforts, some tackling new problems.

Related Content

  • New York sees a boom in cycling
    May 10, 2016
    According to New York City Department of Transportation’s (NYC DOT) 2016 Cycling in the City brief, New York City has seen a recent dramatic increase in cycling, with the claim that the city has seen a 320 per cent increase in daily cycling between 1990 and 2014 and a 68 per cent growth in daily cycling between 2010 and 2014. The brief uses data collected by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) as part of its annual Community Health Survey, where 25 per cent of adult New Yorkers (almost 1.
  • Mobinet counters weighty cross border concerns
    November 9, 2017
    A Mobinet pilot is combining onboard weighing with V2X comms to streamline vehicle weight enforcement. David Crawford reports. Pan-European, cross-border weigh-in-motion (WIM) for trucks is now a practical possibility, following successful Scandinavian trials within the EU-co-funded Mobinet (Internet of Mobility) programme. New technology is using strain sensors, located on load-bearing components and routinely installed in truck fleet management systems.
  • Stage is set for ITS America Annual Meeting
    May 18, 2012
    ITS America has announced that on Monday it will hold a key discussion event concerning intelligent transportation and its role in helping to solve America’s infrastructure crisis with national leaders including Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox; Chris Vein, deputy White House chief technology officer; Robert Brown, Ford Motor Company’s VP of sustainability, environment and safety engineering; and Martin Thall, Verizon’s VP - telematics. This is just one of numerous sessions examining ways to bring in
  • Goodyear innovation could make tyre pumps obsolete
    April 16, 2012
    Goodyear has announced it is developing Air Maintenance Technology (AMT) that will enable tyres to remain inflated at the optimum pressure without the need for any external pumps or electronics. All components of the AMT system, including the miniaturised pump, will be fully contained within the tyre.