40,000 People Died on California Roads. State Leaders Looked Away

40,000 people died on California roads. State leaders looked away

At a California State Senate committee hearing this year, the director of CalTrans, Tony Tavares, showed a simple chart that might have caused the assembled lawmakers some alarm. It was a series of black bars representing the death toll on California’s roads in each of the past 20 years.  Fatalities had been falling until 2010, when the bars started getting longer and longer. A blood-red arrow shot up over the growing lines, charting their rise,…

40,000 People Died on California Roads. State Leaders Looked Away

California lawmakers and local judges have turned a blind eye to skyrocketing DUI fatalities. Is 2026 the year that officials crack down?

Lawmakers ignore rising road deaths in California

By Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler At a California State Senate committee hearing this year, the director of CalTrans, Tony Tavares, showed a simple chart that might have caused the assembled lawmakers some alarm. It was a series of black bars representing the death toll on California’s roads in each of the past 20 years. Fatalities had been falling until 2010, when the bars started getting longer and longer. A blood-red arrow shot up over the gr…

California awards road safety project funding

As part of the traffic safety funding, the OTS is awarding nearly $22.3 million to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to support 20 projects that span both statewide initiatives and localized efforts.