Outlining The California OTS’ 2021 Highway Safety Plan

Each year, the California Office of Traffic Safety releases a highway safety plan. The highway safety plan released by the state serves as an application for federal funds that will be applied to increase traffic safety in the state. In the plan, the Office of Traffic Safety describes the state’s needs regarding highway safety and details what measures it proposes will increase safety on the roads. To get this information, the office evaluates the needs of the state every year and assesses the potential risks to traffic safety for all California drivers.

The metrics that the office tests are directly related to the possibilities of accidents. As you continue reading, you will learn the causes of accidents and how the California Office of Traffic Safety prioritizes making the roads safer. Despite how hard state agencies work to make the roads safer, traffic accidents still happen every day. Traffic accidents are typically caused by a driver’s negligence. If you have been involved in an accident, call a reputable car accident attorney.

Our legal team has decades of experience in recovering $500 million in compensation for accident victims across California. We have successfully assisted clients in Sacramento, San Francisco, Riverside, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sherman Oaks. Call our attorneys to get started on your claim. We are here to help you understand and protect your rights after an accident. Call our acclaimed injury firm at (888) 488-1391 or visit us online to schedule a free consultation.

What Is the Highway Planning Process?

The California Office of Traffic Safety complies with an application for federal funds each year to apply to the state’s roads and highways to make them safer. The application is called the Highway Safety Plan. In the Highway Safety Plan, the Office of Traffic Safety will include its observations about the safety issues it has observed or has been reported to it over the past year and the office’s suggestions for fixing the issues.

The changes that the office suggests should be in line with the requirements for new grants set out by the California Vehicle Code 2900 and the 23 Code of Federal Regulations. The areas were addressed in the California Office of Traffic Safety 2021 Highway Safety Plan include:

Despite the cause of the accident, call our firm for the best representation in the state. Our dedicated injury attorneys have decades of experience serving the people of California. We have recovered over $500 million of settlement money for accident victims that have chosen us to represent their interests. If you have been hurt in an accident, call our talented legal team today. We have the experience and skills to help you get the results you need to recover in peace. Call us today at (888) 488-1391 or visit us online to schedule a free consultation.

Aging Drivers

The California Office of Traffic Safety reported that the elderly population will double to 90 million people over the age of 65 by 2060. In turn, the population of aging drivers will increase significantly. To prepare for the needs of aging drivers, the University of California at San Diego has begun to create classes for police officers and other professionals to learn how to spot issues that older drivers face. The Office of Traffic Safety pointed out that drivers over a certain age suffer from decreased mental and physical ability.

California has more drivers that are a part of the elderly population than any other state in the country. As of January 2020, the number of California drivers aged 65 and older reached 4.5 million. In California, 606 elderly drivers died in traffic crashes in 2018. 199 older adults who were involved in pedestrian accidents were killed in 2018.

Crash Types in Which Aging Drivers Are Involved

Causes of Deadly Crashes for Aging Drivers and Pedestrians

Education Measures That California Proposes to Implement to Increase Safety of Aging Drivers

In the 2021 Highway Safety Plan, the Office of Traffic Safety proposed the following measures to increase traffic safety among drivers aged 65 and older. Those measures include:

• Teaching the elderly how to drive and overcome their unique challenges
• Increasing the awareness of the most recent driving laws that California has passed
• Increasing driver awareness of elderly drivers, the frequency of elderly drivers, and their unique issues
• Educating drivers and pedestrians about how prescription and non-prescription drugs affect the elderly population
• Teaching law enforcement officers how to interact with and recognize the signs of issues that are unique to elderly drivers

Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Alcohol use is a major contributor to traffic accidents across the country and in California. The Office of Traffic Safety reported that in 2018, one person died every hour in an alcohol-impaired driving accident. Californians recognized the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol.

When surveyed, Californians answered that they thought that driving while under the influence of alcohol is the fifth most dangerous factor in deadly traffic accidents. The following facts illustrate how driving under the influence of alcohol has had a devastating effect statewide and nationally.

• There were 10,511 deaths from alcohol-impaired traffic crashes across the country in 2018.
• In 2018, 51,490 people died in traffic accidents caused by a drunk driver who blew a .08 BAC level.
• 28.8 percent of traffic accidents that occurred in 2018, or 36,560 motor vehicle fatalities, involved drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher.
• Across California, 1,069 people were killed in alcohol-impaired traffic accidents in 2018.
• Across California, 3,563 people died in traffic accidents that involved drunk drivers.
• 30 percent of deadly traffic accidents in California in 2018 involved an impaired driver with a BAC level of .08 or higher.

Areas of California That Have the Highest Number of Alcohol-Impaired Traffic Fatalities and Injuries

Driving under the influence of alcohol is such a problem that the Office of Traffic Safety placed alcohol-impaired driving on its Highway Safety Plan. The following is a summary of countermeasures that the Office of Traffic Safety proposed in its 2021 Highway Safety Plan.

Education and Awareness

The Office of Traffic Safety proposed that educating the public about the dangers of alcohol-impaired driving is one of the best ways to increase traffic safety statewide. The state proposed that money be given to fund and expand programs that will increase the amount of knowledge that the public (and specifically any particularly vulnerable groups) have about BAC levels, how to use rideshare apps when they have been drinking, and how to choose a sober designated driver.

Examples of community-based programs proposed by the Office of Traffic Safety include:

DUI Treatment Court

The Office of Traffic Safety proposed that there be a DUI court program. The DUI program is intended to be a substitute for jail time. The program is used to give participants the skills they need to stop over-indulging in alcohol and then driving. These programs are also a collaboration between the court system and law enforcement.

High Visibility Enforcement

The Office of Traffic Safety proposed that money be allocated to law enforcement so that police officers can be available to monitor roadways for drunk drivers. High visibility enforcement includes increased checkpoints, more warrants, more stakeouts, and media awareness. The grants that the Office of Traffic Safety proposed grants included:

• Driving Under the Influence Warrant Service Team Effort XI
• Safer Highways Statewide
• Regional Campaign Against Impaired Drivers

Probation Services

The Office of Traffic Safety proposed that there should be more money given to the state for probation services. The money will be used for county probation departments. The goal is to help reduce deadly accidents that involve DUIs. The increased probation services will include random alcohol testing, unannounced searches, and distribution of Habitual Offender Tracking Sheets.

Distracted Driving

A major cause of traffic accidents across the state and country is distracted driving. A driver is distracted if their attention is taken off the task of operating their vehicle. Examples of distracted driving include eating, texting, or talking on the phone, grooming, listening to music, and using social media.

Cell phones and cell phone use is the number one distraction for road users. Because cell phone use while driving has become such a problem, California has passed laws that prohibit the use of mobile devices while driving unless the cell phone or device is used in hands-free mode or with voice commands.

National statistics on cell phone use and distracted driving traffic accidents and fatalities include the following:

• In 2018, 2,839 people lost their lives in traffic accidents caused by distracted drivers.
• In 2017, 8.6 percent of fatal crashes across the country were reported as distracted driver accidents.
• 25 percent of distracted drivers across the country were aged 20-29.
• 20 percent of distracted drivers across the country were aged 30-39.

The California Office of Traffic Safety described the need for the following countermeasures to distracted driving in its 2021 Highway Safety Plan:

Five Primary Crash Factors for Drug-Impaired Driving

The California Office of Traffic Safety compiled the following list that includes what causes drug-impaired crashes:

The California Office of Traffic Safety included proposed countermeasures in its Highway Safety Plan. The following are the countermeasures that were proposed by the California Office of Traffic Safety:

Education and Awareness

The office wants to educate the public and make drivers aware of the risk of drug-impaired driving. The education programs include:

Evaluation

The California Office of Traffic Safety wanted to shine a light on the issues with drug-impaired driving. The following actions the office wants to take include:

• College Communities Against Drunk, Drugged, and Distracted Driving
• California Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Training Network
• Drug Recognition Evaluator Program
• Continue to improve drug detection methods in alcohol and drug-impaired driving
• Provide funds to continue and enhance drug detection methods in alcohol and drug-impaired driving
• Funding for a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The attorneys at Arash Law headed by Arash Khorsandi, Esq. have the experience that you need to get the result that you want. We have been representing accident victims all over California for years. We have decades of experience helping clients recover over $500 million in compensation for their accident claims. If you have been involved in an accident, call our trusted attorneys at (888) 488-1391 or visit us online to schedule a free consultation.

Emergency Medical Services

The California Office of Traffic Safety focused on the problems presented by the Emergency Medical Services across the state. Traffic crashes in California are responsible for dangers presented to emergency responders across the state. In 2018, there were 3,563 traffic fatalities and 16,069 injuries that involved emergency responders. To remedy these issues, the state proposed in its Highway Safety Plan an increased focus on Strategic Highway Research Project TIM.

Across the state, 35.9 percent of the first responder workforce have been trained in this way. In February 2020, 25,548 of California’s first responders were trained in Strategic Highway Research Project TIM. The California Office of Traffic Safety proposed that funding be allocated to increase the number of first responders that are trained in Strategic Highway Research Project TIM.

Motorcycle Safety

Motorcyclists are part of the safety considerations that were proposed in the 2021 Highway Safety Program. What follows are motorcycle safety statistics from across the country.

Occupant Protection

Occupant protection and occupant safety is an utmost concern to the California Office of Traffic Safety, and suggestions for how to increase occupant safety were included in its Highway Safety Plan. National and statewide statistics about occupant safety include:

• In 2018, across the country, weekday seat belt use among motorists increased from 89.2 percent in 2018 to 90.8 percent in 2019.
• In 2017, 54.9 percent of passenger vehicle occupants with known seat restraint use were involved in a fatal nighttime crash.
• In 2017, daytime seat restraint use was higher than nighttime crashes.
• In 2017, 21,464 passenger vehicle occupants across the country with known restraint use were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes.
• In 2019, seatbelt use increased across the country by 94.5 percent.
• Across the country, 9,778 unrestrained passenger occupants were killed in traffic crashes in 2018.
• In California, there were 598 unrestrained occupants killed in traffic crashes in 2018.
• California’s front seatbelt use rate for those aged five and older has been greater than 95 percent from 2014 to 2018.
• In 2017, seatbelt use saved 1,488 California passenger vehicle occupants aged five and older involved in traffic crashes

Child Passenger Safety

The California Office of Traffic Safety focused on getting money for child passenger safety. The statistics that helped the office make that decision included:

• In 2018, 1,038 children under the age of 14 were killed in traffic accidents.
• In 2017, there were 721 child passenger vehicle occupant accidents. Of the child passengers killed, 37 percent of those children were restrained.
• For children under the age of five, 325 lives were saved because of the widespread use of seatbelts.
• In California, the percentage of children who suffer from serious injuries in car accidents increased from 87 percent in 2018 to 93 percent in 2019.
• The total number of children killed in traffic accidents decreased by 27.3 percent in 2018.
• 22 California children under age five were saved because of the focus on increasing child restraints.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

Pedestrians and cyclists share our roads. Thus, the California Office of Traffic Safety focused on increasing the safety of each of these groups. Pedestrians and bicyclists are increasing in numbers in California and across the country. Because of the increased prevalence, the state must act to ensure that these people are safe. Some statistics on pedestrian and bicyclist safety include:

• • Pedestrian fatalities increased between 2014 and 2018.
  • In California, 893 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in 2018.
  • California counties with the most pedestrian deaths include:

• • Pedestrian fatalities occurred in both urban and rural areas.
  • Crash factors that make pedestrian accidents more likely include:

• • In 2018, there were 857 bicyclists killed in a traffic accident in the United States.
  • Key recommendations that the state had for improving safety for bicyclists include:

Countermeasures to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety include education for law enforcement.

Police Traffic Services

Education the police on how to improve traffic safety is important to create a safe traffic environment. The California Office of Traffic Safety proposed that police participate in various programs that focus on increasing traffic safety.

Traffic Records and Roadway Safety

Other countermeasures proposed by the California Office of Traffic Safety designed to increase safety include:

Contact a Reliable Law Firm Today

If you have been involved in an accident, call the personal injury attorneys at Arash Law led by Arash Khorsandi, Esq., today. We have decades of experience assisting accident-related injury victims across California. We have recovered over $500 million in compensation for people who need it. Call us today at (888) 488-1391 or visit us online to schedule a free consultation.