California's Rural Traffic Fatality Rate is Fifth Highest in the Nation

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The roads connecting California's farm, forest, mountain and other rural communities is an unsafe, inadequate weak spot in the state's vast network of roads and bridges: nearly 38 percent of all traffic fatalities in the state occurred on rural, non-Interstate roads.

“All the counties between Bakersfield and Stockton are now classified urban/exurban, despite the fact that this is the richest agricultural region in the country”

A new report says that California's rural roads have a traffic fatality rate four times higher than all other roads and highways in the state. These byways also have limited connectivity, inadequate capacity to handle existing and growing levels of traffic and commerce, the inability to accommodate growing freight travel, deteriorated road and bridge conditions and a lack of desirable safety features.

The report, "Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America's Heartland," was released today by TRIP, a national non-profit transportation research group based in Washington, D.C. It defines Rural America as all places and people living in areas outside of towns with a population of 5,000 or greater. The report is available at: Tripnet

Despite a recent decrease in the overall fatality rate on America's roads, traffic crashes and fatalities on California's rural roads remain disproportionately high. California ranks second in the nation in the number of fatalities on the state's rural, non-Interstate roads and fifth in the nation in the traffic fatality rate on its rural, non-Interstate roads. In 2009, California's non-Interstate rural roads had a traffic fatality rate of 2.86 deaths for every 100 million vehicle miles of travel, compared to a fatality rate on all other roads of 0.68 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles of travel. Of the 3,081 traffic fatalities that occurred in California in 2009, 1,164 were on rural, non-Interstate roads.

"Californians deserve to get where we're going safely, whether driving to shopping areas, trying to connect to an Interstate, visiting a state park or national forest, or going to the wine country or skiing," said Bert Sandman, executive director of Transportation California. The TRIP report shows that inadequate roadway safety design, longer emergency vehicle response times and the higher speeds traveled on rural roads are factors in the higher traffic fatality rate, particularly on two-lane roads. "Many vital connector routes between towns and cities and between the major north-south freeways are hazardous two-lane roads," Sandman said. "If the funding is provided, these roads can be modernized and made safer," he said.

According to the TRIP report, California has the 15th highest percentage of major rural pavements in poor condition in America. In 2008, 18 percent of the state's major rural roads were rated in poor condition and another 52 percent were rated in mediocre or fair condition. California also ranks nineteenth in the nation in the percentage of rural bridges that are structurally deficient. In 2010, 14 percent of the California's rural bridges were rated as structurally deficient and 13 percent were functionally obsolete.

"The safety and quality of life in California's small communities ride on our rural transportation system," noted Tom Holsman, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of California. "Unemployment in California jumped to 12.4 percent in August; it's significantly higher in farm and rural areas," Holsman said. "California's rural communities and economies are facing even higher unemployment and decline. Upgrading our rural transportation system will create jobs and help ensure long-term economic development and quality of life in rural California."

The safety issue is compounded by population growth in cities at the heart of rural, agricultural counties. "All the counties between Bakersfield and Stockton are now classified urban/exurban, despite the fact that this is the richest agricultural region in the country," Sandman said. "The rural transportation infrastructure can't accommodate the 15-27 percent population growth in those cities during the last decade," he added.

"Our state funding is stretched thinly. Fuel tax revenues aren't keeping up with maintenance needs either in cities or in rural regions," Sandman said. "Proposition 1B, which pumped nearly $20 billion into California's aging transportation network, is nearly spent. Right now the best help we can get for our roadways is from Washington, but Congress has been frustratingly slow to authorize a new national highway bill -- one that will direct funds into our diminished coffers. Just when we need it most," Sandman cautioned, "many in Congress want to slash funding by a third. That's a precipitous plunge certain to stall out improvements California desperately needs."

Transportation California is a non-partisan, non-profit coalition representing a broad spectrum of business, labor, construction and planning agencies which have united to create the state's leading transportation advocacy and public education group. Founded in 1990, its member companies and groups account for more than 200,000 California jobs.