Crash Mapping Project Puts Lamorinda's Traffic Injuries into Perspective

In Lafayette between 2000 and 2008, speeding was the top cause of traffic collisions resulting in injury, accounting for 23 percent of crashes. In Moraga, 20 percent of injury-causing collisions involved speeding, and another 20 percent involved driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Orinda saw 23 injury-causing traffic crashes, 26 percent of which were caused by speeding and another 26 percent of which involved driving on the wrong side of the road.

The launch of the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) this month means free access to collision data from 2000 to 2008, with maps detailing the location, circumstances and level of injury for each traffic accident. Researchers at UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center began the project in 2003 as a means of making collision data easily accessible for analysis.

The data shows that in the three East Bay counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano between 2000 and 2008, there were an average of 910 injury-causing traffic crashes per year, or 2.5 per day.

Alameda County had the highest number of injury-causing crashes, at an average of 479 per year, followed by Contra Costa County at 288 on average per year. Solano County experienced an average of 144 injury-causing traffic collisions each year.

In the East Bay, around 20 percent of these crashes resulted in death. The causes for road deaths and injuries between 2000 and 2008 can be attributed to three main causes: driving at an unsafe speed, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and “improper turning.”

Alameda County racked up the most crashes resulting in death or serious injury with a total of 4,310 in the nine-year data span. Of that number, 20 percent involved speeding and 19 percent involved alcohol or drugs. During the same period in Contra Costa County, 22 percent of accidents with injuries involved alcohol or drugs, and 19 percent were caused by speeding. Around 21 percent of injury-causing accidents in Solano County involved speeding, with 20 percent caused by “improper turning” and 19 percent involving driving intoxicated. The fatality rate in the three counties is highest in Solano at 27 percent, followed by Contra Costa County at 22 percent and Alameda County at 20 percent.

Alameda County had the highest rate of collisions with pedestrians at 22 percent of all injury-causing traffic crashes, and Contra Costa County experienced the most injury-causing motorcycle collisions at 17 percent.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY 2000 - 2008:

Collision Severity

Factor

Number

Percent

Severe Injury

2025

78%

Fatality

570

22%

TOTAL

2595

100%

Pedestrian Collision

455

18%

Bicycle Collision

204

8%

Motorcycle Collision

442

17

Truck Collision

94

4%

Factor

Number

Percent

Unknown

120

5%

Driving or Bicycling Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drug

576

22%

Impeding Traffic

0

0%

Unsafe Speed

490

19%

Following Too Closely

5

0%

Wrong Side of Road

137

5%

Improper Passing

21

1%

Unsafe Lane Change

79

3%

Improper Turning

370

14%

Automobile Right of Way

189

7%

Pedestrian Right of Way

100

4%

Pedestrian Violation

194

7%

Traffic Signals and Signs

146

6%

Hazardous Parking

3

0%

Lights

0

0%

Brakes

0

0%

Other Equipment

5

0%

Other Hazardous Violation

24

1%

Other Than Driver (or Pedestrian)

64

2%

Unsafe Starting or Backing

22

1%

Other Improper Driving

25

1%

Pedestrian or "Other" Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drug

10

0%

Fell Asleep

15

1%

Not Stated

0

0%

Others

0

0%

TOTAL

2595

100%