Highlights From The California OTS 2020 Annual Report

Nationwide Statistics

Over the last forty years, traffic fatalities across the country have decreased gradually. In 2018, there were a reported 36,560 traffic deaths nationwide. That number represents a 2.4 percent decrease in traffic fatalities from the 36,835 reported in 2019. The trend continued into 2020. In the first half of 2020, there were an estimated 16,650 traffic deaths reported across the country. This number shows a 2 percent decrease in traffic fatalities across the country.

The decrease in nationwide traffic fatalities can be attributed to:

• Vehicle improvements – Many states have vehicle requirements, like emissions checks, that must be completed periodically.
• Increased usage of safety belts – It is the law in each state that drivers and passengers must be buckled up while the vehicle is in motion.
• Reduced number of impaired driving incidents

California Statistics

California can boast that its number of traffic fatalities is among the lowest in the nation. The California Mileage Death Rate is the lowest nationally. Across the state, the number of traffic fatalities decreased from 3,798 in 2018 to 3,606 in 2019. That number represents a 5.1 percent decrease in the number of traffic deaths across the entire state. Additionally, the 2019 Mileage Death Rate showed that per 100 million miles traveled on California roads, only 1.06 deaths occur.

Public Relations, Advertising, and Marketing

The California Office of Traffic Safety is an organization that focuses on increasing traffic safety throughout the state for everyone that uses the roads, including motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The office’s goal is to inform the public about life-saving actions that they can use in their travels to reduce the risk of a traffic accident. The office wants to be known as a one-stop shop for all traffic information, including data and safety tips.

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Alcohol-Impaired Driving

The California Office of Traffic Safety focuses on reducing the number of alcohol-involved traffic accidents each year. The office reported that drivers operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol were the leading cause of death among drivers aged 15 to 24. To reduce the number of traffic fatalities caused by alcohol use, the California Office of Traffic Safety implemented the following programs:

Aging Drivers

California has the largest number of drivers that are aged 65 and older in the country. It has been found that as drivers age, their motor abilities decline, but the California Office of Traffic Safety has also found that despite that fact, it seems that older drivers are less likely than other age groups to get into traffic crashes. To ensure that this trend continues, the California Office of Traffic Safety implemented programs that helped aging road users and other age groups learn about the decreased strength, cognitive impairment, reduced visual acuity, physical and mental changes, and other challenges that older drivers face as they use the roads each day.

Traffic Records and Roadway Services

The California Office of Traffic Safety used federal grant funds to promote the Traffic Records Program. The goal of the Traffic Records Program is the increase traffic safety by:

• Promoting data integration and sharing – The OTS Traffic Records Program will integrate traffic record data systems among all stakeholders in California.
• Increasing traffic safety stakeholders’ ability to map and analyze locations that are most likely to have accidents occur
• Make traffic crash database systems automatic

The Roadway Program promoted by the California Office of Traffic Safety developed programs that concentrate on vehicle operating systems and the environment. The vehicle operating environment is strongly influenced by utilizing relevant data gathered by activities that improve traffic safety, enforcement, and engineering.

Police Traffic Services

The California Office of Traffic Safety has allocated federal grant funds to the Police Traffic Services Program. The Police Traffic Services Program has a central focus on improving traffic safety enforcement. The grants allotted to the Police Traffic Services Program were intended by the office to be highly effective in increasing traffic safety because the funds are dedicated to resources that choose enforcement and education. It has been seen that the Police Traffic Services Program has a long-lasting positive impact on reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries sustained by motorcyclists, motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

Distracted Driving

The California Office of Traffic Safety categorized distracted driving into three types of distracted driving that are seen on California roads. The types of distracted driving include:

• Cognitive distraction – Cognitively distracted driving occurs when a driver takes their mind off the task of driving.
• Visual distraction – Visually distracted driving happens when drivers take their eyes off the road.
• Manual distraction – Manually distracted driving happens when a driver takes their hands off the wheel.

Distracted driving was a major concern for drivers that were polled in 2019. According to a survey that was conducted by the California Office of Traffic Safety, 28.8 percent of drivers asked reported that drivers that were distracted by texting or talking on the phone while driving is the biggest problem on California roads. In response to the concern that California drivers had about the dangers of distracted driving, the California Office of Traffic Safety used the federal grant money to fund the following programs:

Drug-Impaired Driving

In an effort to reduce the number of accidents and traffic deaths caused by drug-impaired driving, the California Office of Traffic Safety focused on using federal money on state programs and initiatives that were designed to reduce the number of fatalities. The steps that the office took included funding equipment purchases for drug screening devices and vertical prosecution programs to help improve the state’s ability to prosecute drivers who cause accidents while driving under the influence of drugs.

Emergency Medical Services

If the crash rate continues to increase, then the number of emergency responders must follow that trend. The California Office of Traffic Safety recognized the need to increase funding for emergency medical services throughout the state. The California Office of Traffic Safety used federal grant money to increase the number of emergency responders on the road. The money the office allocated to emergency medical services was used to provide cost-effective programs that use strategies that will increase the state’s emergency systems’ ability to meet the needs of traffic crash victims.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

Pedestrian and bicyclist safety is at the top of the list for increasing safety. In response to the need for an increase in pedestrian and bicyclist safety, the California Office of Traffic Safety’s (SCAG) allocated funds for programs across the state to increase the awareness of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians of the state’s safe behaviors, traffic rules, and interaction with changing infrastructure. The office also used the funds allotted to them to increase the awareness of the responsibilities of all age groups.

To enforce the above behaviors, the California Office of Traffic Safety took the following steps:

1. Develop programs that are intended to target the underserved and high-risk populations
2. Decrease injuries by teaching bicyclists only to wear helmets that are properly fitted
3. Use a multicultural approach to address safer driving, bicycling, and walking behaviors
4. Decrease injuries by increasing awareness and placing a special emphasis on programs designed exclusively for the middle school and high school populations and teach them about safer walking, bicycling, and driving behaviors

Motorcycle Safety

The California Office of Traffic Safety used much of its federal funding to address the issue of motorcycle safety. To increase motorcycle safety across the state, the Office of Traffic Safety implemented programs that were intended to decrease the number of fatalities, injuries, and crashes among motorcyclists across the state. The programs with which the office began to address these problems include:

• Rider training courses offered through agencies like the California Motorcycle Safety Program
• Evaluating the effectiveness of California’s Motorcycle Rider Training Program

Addressing Speeding

When respondents were asked about speeding deterrent measures, they found the following deterrent measures to be favorable:

• 90 percent of survey participants favored the use of digital signs to change the speed limit on a portion of a road based on weather or road conditions.
• 74 percent of respondents believed that the roads needed to be redesigned.
• 78 percent of respondents favored the increased use of traffic cameras.
• 67 percent of respondents favored increasing public awareness of the risks of speeding.
• 62 percent of respondents favored more police patrolling for speeding.

Speed Limits

When asked about speed limits, the survey respondents reported the following:

• 37 percent of people strongly agree or somewhat agree that there is no excuse to violate the speed limit.
• 76 percent of people surveyed reported that they strongly agree or somewhat agree that the speed limit should always be followed because it is the law.
• 37 percent of participants reported that they sometimes drove at least 15 miles per hour over the speed limit on divided highways and multi-lane roads.
• 27 percent of respondents reported that they speed on two-lane highways sometimes or often.
• 14 percent of respondents reported that they speed only on local streets.

Why Drivers Speed

Survey participants were asked why they think people speed. The following were their responses:

• 25 percent of respondents stated that they either somewhat agreed or strongly agreed that speeding made them more alert to what was going on around them.
• 41 percent of drivers that were surveyed reported that they either strongly or somewhat agreed that they liked the feeling that they had when they exceeded the speed limit.
• 85 percent of respondents stated that people should speed to keep up with the flow of traffic.
• 78 percent of survey participants stated that exceeding the speed limit by more than 20 miles per hour is unacceptable behavior.

Perception of Speeding Risks

Respondents did not shy away from the fact that speeding has negative effects. The following information was gathered by survey respondents:

• 20 percent of respondents stated that they tend to pass other cars more often than other cars pass them.
• 47 percent of respondents worry a lot that they will crash on the road.
• 13 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that speeding has no effect at all on road safety and that if something bad is going to happen, it will happen despite the speed the drivers are going.
• 69 percent of respondents agreed that if they are speeding, they will be better able to avoid accidents than other drivers that are speeding.
• 72 percent of respondents said that they strongly agree that driving the speed limit, or near the speed limit, is the safest way to drive.
• 17 percent of survey participants said that speeding is dangerous for the most skilled drivers.

Enforcement of Speeding Laws

• 29 percent of respondents said they have never seen or rarely see a police officer pull over a car.
• 46 percent of people surveyed stated that they felt that the police should enforce speeding laws more and that police forces should primarily target traffic on freeways and interstates.
• 46 percent of people said city streets should be patrolled more.
• 90 percent of people surveyed stated that they had not been stopped by a police officer for speeding.
• 58 percent of respondents stated that they support police officers patrolling the city streets, freeways, and interstates during both the day and night to prevent speeding.
• 43 percent of respondents stated that they agree that tickets are not about changing behavior but are only about raising money.