Fresno Car Accidents Blamed on Dangerous DUIs

Most Fresno car accident lawyers will admit that DUI car accidents are a problem for Fresno residents. Fresno is pulling out all the stops to nab DUIs before they hurt or kill themselves or other drivers. As recently as 2006, 38 people were killed and 1,749 injured in Fresno car collisions. Alcohol related car crashes accounted for 16 fatalities and 235 personal injuries. That was enough for Fresno. Police set up roadblocks, and conducted stakeouts using night-vision goggles, satellite tracking devices and video cameras in a massive crackdown on drunken drivers.

These aggressive tactics have made Fresno one of the toughest cities in America to get a DUI. While bars and restaurants complain, police say the four-year crackdown yielded a dramatic drop in deadly Fresno car accidents. The draconian efforts include staking out bars for drunks stumbling to their cars, setting up multiple DUI checkpoints, even planting GPS devices on the vehicles of convicted drunk drivers to catch parole violators.

The efforts worked. The number of DUI arrests rose steadily from 2,169 in 2002 to almost 3,000 in 2006. A study conducted by Fresno's Community Regional Medical Center found that the steep increase in traffic citations resulted in a significant decrease in traffic collisions, all during an increase in population. The study revealed that in 2002, 26,000 traffic citations were given out, followed by 65,000 in 2003 and 85,947 in 2004. During that same three-year span, car crashes went from 4,502 in 2002 to 4,314 in 2003, and decreased again to 4,136 in 2004. Of those numbers, injury collisions dropped from 1,750 in 2002 to 1,587 in 2004, while fatal car collisions dropped from 52 in 2002 to 30 in 2004. In Fresno County, where this traffic enforcement program is not in effect, the car crash rate went up during these same three years.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving pronounced Fresno's efforts as among the most aggressive in the nation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ranks Fresno among eight cities demonstrating sustained, high-visibility, impaired-driving enforcement.

Fresno's wide, flat streets with long cruising distances between stoplights are a temptation for many drives to put the "pedal to the metal." Fresno also has a large number of Latin American and Southeast Asian immigrants, some of whom may be driving illegally or are unfamiliar with the rules of the road.

Dovetailing Fresno's anti-DUI efforts is a high-tech multi-faceted traffic system installed by Caltrans in 2007. Strategically placed along 12 miles of Highway 99, the system includes fog and weather sensors, closed circuit cameras, and message boards. The automated system triggers message signs to let motorists know quickly and efficiently whether they need to slow down or come to a complete stop if necessary. Once a highway problem is detected, it's transferred from a sensor, to a camera, and to the area's giant message boards in less than 30 seconds.