The city of Los Angeles scored the worst out of a total of 13 California cities in accident injuries and deaths for 2009. That information comes from a report by the California Office of Traffic Safety, which analyzed accident injury and fatality rates in 13 California cities with a population of 250,000 or more.
The fact that the City of Angels is the deadliest city in California for motorists shouldn’t come as a surprise to any Los Angeles car accident attorney. The city has an autocentric culture, with little encouragement of pedestrians and bicycling with the result that there has been no improvement in traffic congestion in the city for decades. The most undesirable driving practices including reckless and aggressive driving, and road rage stems from the pressures arising out of such traffic congestion.
Overall, 31,087 victims were injured or killed in traffic accidents in Los Angeles in 2009. Drunk driving caused approximately 2,763 accident injuries and fatalities. These victims also included 881 motorcyclists, 2806 pedestrians and 1817 bicyclists. Los Angeles was followed by the cities of Sacramento, Stockton, Anaheim, Riverside, Santa Ana, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Jose, Long Beach and Fresno.
There are two facts that stand out clearly in the report. The first is that drunk driving continues to be a major factor in traffic accidents in Los Angeles. More than 2,700 people every year fall victim to accidents involving an intoxicated motorist. That’s in spite of all the efforts made by Los Angeles police to keep drunk drivers off the street. In 2009, California police arrested more than 9,096 drunk drivers in Los Angeles County.
The other fact is that pedestrian accident fatalities and injuries in Los Angeles continue to spike significantly. More than 2,800 pedestrians were injured or killed in accidents in Los Angeles in 2009. That is not including the 478 pedestrians below the age of 15 who were also injured or killed in Los Angeles that same year.
