Vehicle collision stats down across the board in North County - Economy and increased patrols impact numbers in Fallbrook area

San Diego County has seen a significant drop in its overall collision count from 2009 to 2010, and the drop has been experienced in the greater Fallbrook area as well.

According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the overall collision count for the county in 2010 was 3,832, a significant decrease from 2009’s 3,992. In 2009 there were 58 deaths on the highways and county roads of North County. That number dropped dramatically in 2010 to 26.

Within Fallbrook, overall crashes for 2010 were 515, a drop from 576 in 2009. One of those crashes involved fatalities, a drop from the six in 2009, according to CHP officer Eric Newbury.

Additionally, there were 182 injury collisions in 2010, a drop from 219 collisions in 2009. There were 53 driving under the influence-related collisions in 2010, a drop from 71 DUI-related collisions in 2009.

Newbury believes that the economy may have played a role in why the collision numbers have dropped.

“It has to be a combined effort, but the economy may come into play,” said Newbury. “It’s not what we can control. We can write more tickets and arrest more drunks, but we see more people out on the road that are behaving themselves. I don’t know that there’s a particular reason to put my finger on.”

“Although we will never know the real reason for the reduction in fatalities, we can point to several factors that have no doubt contributed to that success.” Captain Deb Schroder, Oceanside Area CHP commander stated, “Public awareness has increased regarding driving under the influence and distracted driving, specifically cell phone use and texting while driving.”

Newbury also stated more officers have been assigned to the Oceanside CHP office, and more concentrated efforts have been made in the Fallbrook area.

“The overtime funding and saturation efforts could be a factor,” said Newbury. “When you have more officers on the road, it will be a little safer. Our goal is to keep people safe, not generate income. We don’t get awards for having the most arrests. Keeping people safe is a job in itself.”

“Law Enforcement in North County has truly come together to combat traffic fatalities. We have created partnerships with each other and the community to both provide for education and aggressive enforcement,” said Schroder. “North County realized a reduction of fatalities on our freeways and state routes of 45 percent. While that may just be a statistic to some, to us within the CHP, it is the saving of 32 lives.”

While the number of collisions may have dropped, Newbury believes that the Fallbrook community should continue to improve its numbers.

“We should be able to look at these numbers and statistics then say, ‘We can do better than this,’” said Newbury. “Our goals should be to have no fatalities and less DUIs.”

To comment on this story online, visit http://www.thevillagenews.com.