In 1989, the California DUI Management Information system was developed as a monitoring system to evaluate the efficacy of intervention systems for people who have been convicted of DUI. According to the most recent statistics that are available from the tracking system, alcohol-involved fatalities decreased by 1% in 2015. This followed a decrease of 3.5% in 2014. Drug-related fatalities decreased by 3.85 in 2015 following a 3.1% decrease in 2014. Of all crash fatalities in 2015, 33% involved alcohol. The percentage of crash fatalities that involved drugs was 24.2%. In 2015, the DUI arrest rate per 100,000 licensed drivers declined by 11.5%.
CBS Local San Francisco reports that both crashes and DUI arrests are down during the COVID-19 lockdown, but citations for speeding over 100 m.p.h. are up.
Early on Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol revealed that crashes and DUI arrests have fallen during the state’s COVID-19 lockdown. However, the number of drivers who are being cited for speeding over 100 m.p.h. has soared.
Preliminary data from the CHP’s record tracking system indicates that between March 19 to April 30th, there has been a 75% reduction in the number of reported crashes compared to the same time frame last year. The same data indicates an 88% reduction in the number of traffic-related fatalities as well as a 62% decrease in the number of injuries in accidents.
The number of accidents plummeting was not the only good news that the CHP had to report. Compared with the same time between March and April of 2019, the number of DUI arrests has dropped in 2020 by 42%.
However, the downside is that between March 19 and April 30th CHP officers issued 2,738 citations for speeding in excess of 100 m.p.h. which is an increase of 46% over last year.