Understanding Transportation Safety

Southern California is home to roughly 19 million people, about half the entire state’s population, and 13 million licensed drivers. We rely on our cars, buses, rail lines, bicycles, and feet to get around. And we’re getting around a lot. We travel almost 430 million miles every day. That’s equivalent to 17,911 trips around the world every day. The thing is, we aren’t going around the world. We’re going to work, the grocery store, to visit our grandma, and to our child’s soccer game.

With all that traveling, it’s not surprising that mistakes are getting made. At the wrong moment, we might take a quick glance at a text message, rush to make it through a traffic signal, or forgo the intersection to cross midblock. The consequences of these mistakes can last a lifetime.

On average, each year in Southern California, 1,450 people are killed, 5,500 are seriously injured, and 124,000 are injured in traffic collisions. These numbers represent children, parents, spouses, relatives, and friends. These are people who were going about their typical day—again, heading to work, the grocery store, and to visit grandma. Collisions are happening in every community in our region, from El Centro in Imperial County to Malibu in Los Angeles County. They are happening to people who drive, and disproportionately to people who walk and bike. Low income and communities of color are also negatively impacted; a significant portion of SCAG’s High Injury Network, about 66 percent, exists in Disadvantaged Communities.

The State of California, SCAG, and local governments are committed to ensuring transportation safety for all people in our region. Each year, metropolitan planning organizations such as SCAG work with the state to develop annual safety targets to comply with federal requirements. We work together to assess fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads and set safety targets at the statewide and regional levels.

Using Data And Information to Make Better Transportation Decisions

We endeavor to use information and data to help us make better transportation decisions that result in fewer fatalities and serious injuries. We want to find solutions to make the region safer for everyone.

The first step is to acquire a perspective on our existing conditions. Specifically: What is happening? Where is it happening? When is it happening? Who is it happening to? And, most importantly—Why is it happening?

We developed a Transportation Safety Regional Existing Conditions Report to provide answers to some of these questions.

We also publish a Transportation Safety & Security Technical Report every four years.

Fact Sheets

Transportation Safety County Fact Sheets are also available:

Imperial County
Los Angeles County
Orange County
Riverside County
San Bernardino County
Ventura County

Safety Targets

To comply with federal requirements, each February, SCAG establishes safety targets for the five performance measures listed in the table below. Every year presents us with an opportunity to evaluate our progress and set new targets. Until 2022, SCAG had consistently adopted annual safety targets that were focused on achieving Toward Zero Deaths.

In late 2020, SCAG began working with the Federal Highway Administration to develop a series of predictive models for safety planning and target setting. The work resulted in the development of safety target setting models that predict fatalities, serious injuries, and non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries. SCAG used these models to develop the 2022 safety targets.

The models forecasts trends through 2025, which reflect moderate increases in fatalities as well as more significant increases serious injuries. SCAG continues to maintain the broader vision Toward Zero Deaths, while adopting these evidence-based near-term targets.

SCAG’s 2022 targets are as follows:

Download the Regional Council February 3, 2022 Full Agenda Packet to view safety target approvals for 2022. You may also view the 2021 Transportation Safety Targets here.