Submitted by Aiken Jacobsen on
California's Office of Traffic Safety has just released their traffic statistics from 2009 and the outcome doesn't look good for Sacramento. The newly published report lists Sacramento as the most dangerous place to drive in the region.
In 2009, Sacramento city and county had almost 11,000 injuries or fatalities due to car accidents. Sacramento is among California's 13th largest cities, and 2009 data shows that it ranks first in the number of drunk-driving injuries and fatalities.
The high number of car accidents in Sacramento is likely due to the fact that the city is a large commuter hub. Tens of thousands of drivers commute through the city each day and it is inevitable that this will bring more traffic accidents.
However, this does not explain why Sacramento has such a high number of alcohol-related car accidents. In 2009 the city had 354 injuries and fatalies due to drunk driving. Compared to Roseville which had the next highest number with 64, Sacramento had a rate 5-and-a-half times higher.
While Sacramento is one of the most dangerous driving areas in the region, the safest city was Lincoln. Police officials were surprised by this, given that Lincoln has such a high percentage of senior-citizen drivers. A representative for the city hopes that this data will dispel the myth that seniors cause more accidents than other drivers.
So what do these numbers mean for Sacramento? It is no surprise that bigger cities see more traffic accidents, but Sacramento showed poorly among comparable urban areas of California. This might mean higher insurance rates for drivers in the area. It certainly means that drivers in Sacramento need to be on guard. With an injury and fatality record like this, chances are good that an accident may be in your future.
Source: The Sacramento Bee online, "Where does your city rank on the region's driving danger index?" Tony Bizjak, 14 January 2011
