Deadliest roads in state are in Southern California. Do you drive these freeways?
During the pandemic, California officials noted a worrying increase in driving deaths even as fewer people used the roads.
Now, as more drivers are back on the roads, there are signs that the dangerous driving has continued.
Car crash deaths rose 17% from 2018 to 2022 in the state, according to a new report from ConsumerAffairs, a platform for consumer news.
And the deadliest stretches of California roads were all in Southern California, the data showed.
“It’s a crisis that needs to be reversed,” Timothy Weisberg, a spokesperson for the California Office of Traffic Safety, told ConsumerAffairs. “During the pandemic, we saw more of those dangerous driving behaviors.”
For the first time, California is permitting speed cameras, including in L.A., where one South Los Angeles resident says cars are ‘now the weapons.’
The five deadliest stretches are listed below.
- Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County: 48 deaths in 2022, up from 33 in 2018
- Interstate 10 in Riverside County: 31 deaths in 2022, up from 25 in 2018
- Interstate 5 In San Diego County; 21 deaths in 2022, up from 19 in 2018
- Interstate 5 in Orange County: 16 deaths in 2022, up from 14 in 2018
- U.S. 101 in Santa Barbara County: 15 deaths in 2022, up from 7 in 2018
Overall, San Bernardino County was the state’s deadliest large county, with more than 20 fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2022, the data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed.
Speeding was often the culprit. In 2018, speeding was involved in 26% of deadly car crashes. By 2022, that figure had risen to 31%, according to the report.
At the same time, drunk driving was involved in fewer fatal crashes: from 24% in 2018 to 13% in 2022.
The deadliest hours to be on the road were 6 p.m. to midnight, during which 36% of deadly crashes in 2022 occurred.
In L.A., 336 people died in crashes in 2023 and more than half of them were pedestrians. That’s the highest number in more than 20 years and advocates are demanding action.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, faces its own battle with rising traffic and pedestrian fatalities. Car crashes killed more people in the city than homicides did in 2023.
The statistics represent “untenable circumstances that are threatening our community,” then-L.A. Police Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference in January.
The increase in dangerous driving has also led state officials to consider speed cameras in cities across California.
A pilot program announced in 2023 will allow the cameras in six cities: Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, Long Beach and San Francisco.
Times staff writers Rachel Uranga and Libor Jany contributed to this report
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