A recent study by Autoaccident.com pinpoints some of the hit and run hotspots in Sacramento. This should help travelers, law enforcement and city officials in making decisions about safety and travel in the city. The study shows that US-50 and SR-99 are the top two roads that have high incidences of hit and run collisions.
Law enforcement can use this to know where to concentrate efforts to catch drivers who flee the scene. The study also sheds light on the intersections that have the most hit and run accidents. At 12th Ave and SR-99 there were 84 hit and runs in the two-year period of the study while the number 2 hot spot intersection only had 33.
Fighting the Rise in Hit and Run Accidents
According to the American Automobile Association, hit and run accidents are up 53% from 2009, and this trend isn’t concentrated in one or two sectors of the country, but just about all major metropolitan areas are experiencing the effects of this rise.
Once city officials review where and what time these accidents are happening, then resources can get diverted to help fight accidents and hit and run collisions. Studies like the one published by Autoaccident.com can go a long way to help in this fight.
Most Dangerous Roads
The study shows on which specific roads in Sacramento will motorists be at the most risk of a hit and run accident. If this data is used properly, then cameras can be added to existing ones that might help in identifying a hit and run driver as they flee.
Law enforcement can focus on these spots for patrol so their response time is lessened. Also, motorists can be more vigilant when driving on these roads. First to avoid an accident before it happens, and then if a collision occurs, the motorist might be able to be more aware of the surroundings and get a description of the driver of the car. Once a driver flees, any information will help police track down the car and driver.
The study ranks the roads in order of the raw number of hit and run accidents in 2017 and 2018.
Most Dangerous Times
The study showed what was expected regarding times of the day. The hours with the most traffic and the most accidents also have the most hit and runs. However, between 11 pm and 3 am, the number of cars on the roads and the number of accidents drop, but the number of hit and run collisions doesn’t drop at the same levels. In fact, between 1 am and 2 am, there is a spike in hit and run collisions.
Injuries and Fatalities
The study showed that 36% of Sacramento’s 2,233 hit and run collisions ended in injury at 777, and 22 ended in a fatality. The study includes an interactive heat map that plots the intensity of the number of hit and runs, and armed with the knowledge of the percentage of injuries and fatalities, one can see where the high-risk areas are for hit and run accidents that end in injury and fatalities.
Hit and run victims often talk about how angry they are knowing that someone left them at an accident site, injured and in need of help. Cities like Sacramento have their work cut out for them if they are going to start getting those numbers to go down.
