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More cars, more accidents

Accident As more people get on our freeways, the number of accidents is rising. CHP officials tell the Sun that, in turn, is causing more gridlock:

In San Bernardino County, the number of accidents involving property damage jumped from 17,193 in 2000 to 22,272 in 2005, according to the CHP. In Riverside County, the number jumped from 13,757 in 2000 to 17,787 in 2005. In Los Angeles County, the number climbed from 86,760 in 2000 to 92,640 in 2005. An accident, no matter how small, can turn a commute into a nightmare in an instant, said Hamid Bahadori, principal traffic engineer for the Auto Club. He said a third of freeway congestion is caused by accidents, and the longer it takes to clear an accident scene, the worse congestion becomes.

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Comments

...so logic would point us to a public transportation system that is ENCOURAGED and more walking/bike riding as these actions are much more safe and healthy for the most part, but money and the lack of people taking the initiative to use their own minds leads us to more cars because there is a lot of money to be made off of repairing or replacing cars that were in accidents, towing the cars in accidents, medical expenses, wasted gasoline, lawyers, repairing damaged streets, signs and structures, insurance prices and man, everyone loves spending lots of money, don't they?

Moving people around is really at the heart of how southern california works and I understand that, but that is why we should be moving people around in different ways.

And many of those accidents are caused by Road Rage incited by too many cars to begin with.

By this article, it seems we should only be concerned with how long it takes each of us to get to work.

It would be reasonable to get the full scope of the picture....

How many people are injured or killed in those 130,000 accidents?

And how many family lives are affected by road rage that carries over into domestic abuse?

http://trafficbulldog.org is a commuter advocacy group committed to helping people form carpools. As you all know by now, if we get to 1.3 people per car, there would be no traffic, there would be less accidents, and much less road rage.

Hey Roger Snoble, would you like to join this conversation?

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Our Blogger
Steve Hymon is The Times' Road Sage. He covers traffic and transportation in a region united by a confounding network of freeways that frustrate drivers daily. The Bottleneck Blog is Steve's website home, where he breaks transportation news, reports on traffic tie-ups and brings a critical but humorous eye to commuting in Southern California. You can reach Steve at steve.hymon@latimes.com.

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