Three stretches of freeway in the Bay Area are among the top 10 deadliest roads in California, an analysis of federal data shows, with the recent unusual late summer rain expected to continue through at least Tuesday, among factors experts say are contributing increase the risk drivers.
Two sections of Interstate 80 in the East Bay and a portion of Interstate 280 in the South Bay have one of the highest death rates per mile in the state, according to a report by personal finance website MoneyGeek.
The report looked at auto accident fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analyzed more than 4,400 of California’s nearly 400,000 roads of all types, including freeways, interstates and local roads. The report examined 10,370 fatal auto accidents from 2017 to 2019, the latest data available to analysts, and identified the deadliest road in each California county.
Among these, the section of I-80 from Emeryville to Albany was the second deadliest in the state with 3 fatal accidents per mile, and I-80 from El Cerrito to Pinole was the third deadliest with 2.6 fatalities per mile. The section of I-280 from Meridian Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard in San Jose was the eighth deadliest at 2.5 deaths per mile.
I-80 between exits 14A and 8A
• District: alameda
• Ranking: 2
• Deadly accidents: fifteen
• Deaths: 17
• Fatal accidents per mile: 3
• Distance: 5 miles
This stretch of I-80 from Emeryville to Albany was the second deadliest road in the state, according to MoneyGeek.
MoneyGeekI-80 from exit 15 through 21
• District: Against Costa
• Ranking: 3
• Deadly accidents: 13
• Deaths: 18
• Fatal accidents per mile: 2.6
• Distance: 5 miles
This stretch of I-80 from El Cerrito to Pinole was the third deadliest road in the state, according to personal finance website MoneyGeek.
MoneyGeekI-280 from Meridian Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard
District: Santa Clara
Ranking: 8th
Deadly accidents: 11
Deaths: 12
Fatal accidents per mile: 2.5
Distance: 4.3 miles
That stretch of I-280 from Meridian Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard in San Jose was the eighth deadliest road in California, according to MoneyGeek.
MoneyGeekThe deadliest road in California, according to the analysis, is the section of Interstate 15 from exits 129 through 138 in Hesperia, 35 miles north of downtown San Bernardino, with a rate of 4.2 accidents per mile. A section of freeway in Sacramento ranked fourth with 2.5 accidents per mile on Interstate 5 between Del Paso Road and Railyards Boulevard.
All other roads in the top 10 deadliest were in Southern California.
According to analysts at MoneyGeek, the leading causes of fatal auto accidents across the state are speed, drunkenness and distracted driving. Other common causes include careless driving and driving errors, and weather conditions such as rain and wind, according to federal data analyzed by the Insurance Information Institute.
In the United States, November is the month with the highest rate of fatal accidents, according to the MoneyGeek report, which analysts attribute to vacation trips.
The report compared the state’s three largest metropolitan areas — Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco — and found that while the San Francisco subway’s population is less than half that of Los Angeles, it has multiple streets , which are deadlier in terms of concentration deaths.
The two roads in the Los Angeles metro that made the top 10 deadliest were a section of Interstate 605 in Norwalk/Cerritos at #7 and a portion of Highway 22 in Garden Grove at #10.
However, Zeitlinger said it’s important to note that overall, “there are more traffic-related fatalities in the Los Angeles area, with 4,628 fatalities compared to just 1,292 fatalities in the Bay Area.”
At a per capita rate, “Los Angeles metro area’s 35 traffic-related deaths per 100,000 people is significantly more deadly than the Bay Area’s 27.3 traffic-related deaths per 100,000 people,” said Doug Milnes, MoneyGeek’s head of data and analytics .
The analysis did not address the specifics of each street identified in the data; Zeitlinger said there are many variables that can make a road particularly dangerous.
“One reason the streets in the Bay Area might stand out is that they serve as access routes for commuters coming into San Francisco and Berkeley, while the LA subway’s most dangerous streets are outside of Los Angeles,” he said.
Kellie Hwang is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KellieHwang
