Understanding Transportation Safety

Southern California is home to roughly 19 million people, about half the entire state’s population, and 15 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 more than 440 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, 1,500 people are killed, 5,200 are seriously injured, and 136,000 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 from all walks of life, to those who drive and to people who walk and bike.

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. We plan on updating our Existing Conditions report in spring 2021 with additional years of data.

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

Each February, SCAG’s Regional Council approves safety targets for the current calendar year. Since we began doing this in 2018, our targets have been consistent with and supportive of Caltrans’ established targets.

The current regional safety targets aim to reduce fatalities by a minimum of 3.03% and serious injuries by a minimum of 1.5% per year to reach the goal of Towards Zero Deaths by no later than 2050.

SCAG’s 2020 targets are as follows:

Download the Regional Council February 6, 2020 Full Agenda Packet to view safety target approvals for 2020.

You may also view the 2018 Transportation Safety Targets here.