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 assess fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads and develop annual safety targets to comply with federal requirements.
SOCAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY RESOURCE HUB
To support local jurisdictions in their efforts to advance transportation safety and help the region achieve its annual safety targets, SCAG developed the SoCal Transportation Safety Resource Hub, a centralized source of on SCAG’s transportation safety programs, data, reports, and resources, featuring:
- A summary of regional transportation safety goals and targets
- An overview of SCAG’s transportation safety existing conditions
- An interactive map of SCAG’s Regional High Injury Network (HIN) along with downloadable data, and resources to support local jurisdictions to create their own HIN
- Opportunities to get involved through SCAG’s current safety efforts
- Data, tools, funding, and other resources from SCAG and other organizations
TRANSPORTATION SAFETY REGIONAL EXISTING CONDITIONS
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 statistics come from the Transportation Safety Regional Existing Conditions Report (2021) which reviews the region’s most recent roadway collision data, patterns, and trends to inform the development of regional safety targets and to serve as a reference when considering future planned improvements and actions.
A high-level summary of the report is available on the Existing Conditions page of the SoCal Transportation Safety Resource Hub. Fact sheets featuring key safety statistics drawn from the 2021 Transportation Safety Regional Existing Conditions Report are available for each of the six SCAG counties:
Imperial County
Los Angeles County
Orange County
Riverside County
San Bernardino County
Ventura County
Further analysis and strategies regarding transportation safety are available in the Connect SoCal Transportation Safety and Security Technical Report.
SAFETY TARGETS
Each February, SCAG establishes safety targets for the five performance measures listed in the table below. Every year, the region is provided the opportunity to evaluate progress and set new targets.
Until 2022, SCAG had consistently adopted annual safety targets that were focused on achieving Zero Deaths. However, 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 FHWA work resulted in the development of safety target setting models that forecast fatalities, serious injuries, and non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries. SCAG used these models to develop the 2023 safety targets. The models currently forecast trends through 2025, which reflect moderate increases in serious injuries. SCAG continues to maintain the broader vision of Zero Deaths, while adopting these evidence-based near-term targets.
SCAG’s 2023 targets are as follows:
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Number of Fatalities:
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1,485.2
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Rate of Fatalities per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT):
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0.93
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Number of Serious Injuries:
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7,441.8
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Rate of Serious Injuries per 100 million VMT:
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4.68
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Number of Non–motorized Fatalities and Non–motorized Serious Injuries:
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2,235.5
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Download the Regional Council February 2, 2023 Full Agenda Packet to view safety target approval for 2023.
REGIONAL HIGH INJURY NETWORK
High injury networks (HINs) are one of many strategies for local agencies to begin addressing traffic fatalities and serious injuries. HINs identify stretches of roadways where the highest concentrations of collisions resulting in fatal or serious injuries occur on the transportation network.
SCAG’s Regional High Injury Network is a network of designated corridor-level segments where the highest concentrations of serious and fatal collisions occur over the course of the most recent five years of available collision data at the time of publishing (2015 – 2019). SCAG’s Regional HIN shows that 65 percent of all fatal and serious injuries occurred on just 5.5 percent of the regional transportation network. For more information about the development of SCAG’s Regional HIN, view the Methodology and Analysis document.
Local jurisdictions in California may be even more interested in developing their own High Injury Network due to the adoption of Assembly Bill 43 (AB43), which will permit agencies with designated safety corridors (e.g., High Injury Networks) to lower speeds on those roads. The High Injury Network page of the SoCal Transportation Safety Resource Hub features several resources:
- A description of what a High Injury Network is and why they matter
- Recommendations and a checklist for developing HINs
- Webinars on the technical components of collision data and HINs
- Examples of locally adopted HINs
To learn more about where collisions are occurring throughout Southern California, visit the High Injury Network page of the SoCal Transportation Safety Resource Hub.
GET INVOLVED
Safe and Active Streets Working Group
SCAG offers support to local partners across the region as they work to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries. Through the Safe and Active Streets Working Group, SCAG convenes local jurisdiction staff, government agencies, community-based organizations, academic researchers, and other leaders of transportation safety and active transportation stakeholders, to share best practices related to transportation safety, planning, and programming and share information on SCAG initiatives and funding programs. Working group meetings occur on a quarterly basis and are open to the public. More information regarding specific meetings and other regional planning working groups can be reviewed online here.
Go Human
SCAG supports local jurisdictions and community-based organizations through its traffic safety and community engagement program, Go Human. SCAG Go Human aims to reduce crashes, improve safety for people walking and biking, and raise awareness of the importance of traffic safety.
More information on the Safety Campaign, trainings and webinars, and other safety resources for your jurisdictions is available here.
Contact
Anita Au
au@scag.ca.gov
