According to Capitol Television News Service (CTNS), the number of fatal traffic accidents in California continues to fall. The state saw deadly accidents drop nearly 12% last year compared to 2009. It’s the fifth year in a row that traffic deaths in California have gone down. The nation’s overall traffic fatality rate is estimated to have fallen by 3%.
The 2010 death total of just over 2700 is the lowest for the state since 1944 when a tenth of the number of vehicles traveled a sixteenth of the number of miles driven today in California. Traffic officials say the 12% drop in fatal accidents can be attributed to a number of factors.
Chris Cochran, California Office of Traffic Safety said, “Cars are getting better. They’re getting safer, and more people are buckling up. Fewer people are getting DUIs. There’s more enforcement out there.” Cochran said that credited Californians with “doing it right. They’re buckling up. They’re driving safer. They’re the ones who are really getting the Kudos out of these numbers.”
Traffic officials say the drop in fatalities the last five years means thousands of Californians are with their families instead of being a traffic statistic. The office of traffic safety also announced it has received $76 million to support more than 200 traffic safety grants for state and local agencies with two new areas, distracted and drugged driving getting special emphasis.
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o2lvnmmth- I hope you didn’t take me comments offensively. I agree Honda has really improved their saftey . I just really think the oil giants play a huge role in the state of our economy. I hope you and your family are o.k..
it takes a heck of a lot more then that to offend me…I love discourse and hearing other people’s opinions…when they are capable of intelligent discussion regarding those opinions at least!
I recently had my first ever serious car accident, going down highway 395 we lost control of our vehicle by overcorrecting and went all over the road, eventually off the road backwards, then flipped end over end….we both walked away with barely a scratch (which came from dropping from the seatbelt onto the roof of the car and climbing out the window)….I think the car did a terrific job of protecting us…and yes, we were wearing our seatbelts and probably would be dead if we hadn’t been. The airbags did not deploy (front ones only in that car). I pushed myself back into my seat as hard as I could and the seatbelt held me tight. No jostling even, no bruises, no sore muscles the next day. Pretty amazing really. FYI – it was a Honda.
The rate has likely gone down because people can’t afford to drive as much anymore.
Less driving is only a part of it. The rate is down on a per miles driven basis as well.
From California OTS: “California 2009 Mileage Death Rate (MDR) – fatalities per 100 million miles traveled is 0.95, and marks the first time California has been below 1.0. California is much better than the national 1.14 MDR.”
http://www.ots.ca.gov/OTS_and_Traffic_Safety/Report_Card.asp