Aric Sleeper here, thinking about my own driving habits after speaking with local bicyclists and transportation planners for my cover story about using active transportation, or walking, biking and rolling in anything that is not an automobile.
One big takeaway from speaking with folks and studying various plans and reports about getting around in Monterey County, such as the Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, is that traffic collisions are often the result of completely avoidable behavior.
The primary behavioral factors that led to the crashes cited in the Vision Zero Plan include impaired, distracted and aggressive driving. But we’ve all been there, frustrated in traffic, just trying to get home after a long day at work when we decide to hit the gas and pass someone at an unsafe speed, or look away from a curving road to check a phone notification, only to swerve into the shoulder by accident.
Compared to other jurisdictions in the state, Monterey County has a way to go in terms of active transportation infrastructure, but it’s certainly not the worst. According to the latest traffic collision data from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which ranks 58 counties in the state from one to 58, with one being the “worst,” in 2023, Monterey County ranked 33rd out of 58 for bicycle and vehicle collisions that resulted in death or serious injury.
However, the transportation system isn’t the safest for young people, with Monterey County ranked 19th in the state for bicyclists under the age of 15 killed or injured by a vehicle. The five-year average of crash rankings from 2019 to 2023 shows Monterey County ranked lower than most California counties of similar size for total fatal and injury crashes, but averaged a ranking of 6 for pedestrians under the age of 15 who were hurt or killed by a vehicle collision.
To help bring the number of collisions resulting in serious injury or death down for youth and everyone on the road, local bicycle enthusiasts such as Mari Lynch, founder of the website Bicycling Monterey, and TAMC Principal Transportation Planner Ariana Green are doing their part. Green, for example, oversees the Safe Routes to School program, which includes numerous initiatives such as Walking School Buses and Walk and Roll programs.
Green pointed out that “If you design a street that feels comfortable and safe for a child, you’re making it comfortable and safe for everyone in the community—people of all ages and abilities.”
Similarly to the Vision Zero Plan, Lynch mentioned that distracted and aggressive drivers cause many avoidable collisions, so the next time you feel the need for speed or to text while you’re driving, just don’t. You may save somebody’s life and quite possibly your own.