City members will discuss reducing speed limits on some Long Beach streets as part of the efforts to lower traffic fatalities

Long Beach, California – Every year, more than 3 million people are injured in car accidents. The number of deaths attributed to traffic accidents is even more staggering, as over 40,000 people die each year as a result of crashes.

Statistics show that more than a third of fatal car accidents occur at night and are considered one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of 14. There are various reasons that contribute to vehicle crashes, but impaired driving, driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and traveling at a high rate of speed are considered the most common.

An increase in vehicle accidents resulting in fatalities has been recorded in Long Beach in the last few years, prompting authorities to take measures that will contribute to lowering those numbers.

Upon taking several proposals into consideration, they concluded that the measure that will likely be most efficient at this time in order to reduce the number of traffic accidents and thus lower the number of fatalities is speed limit reductions at some points in the city.

The council was additionally convinced that the speed limit reductions will be crucial to their efforts after a study conducted by the Department of Public Works in Long Beach showed that over 100 streets within the city have to have slower speed limits posted.

Therefore, the proposal will be further discussed at a Long Beach City Council meeting, and in the event that it is approved, the changes will take place by the summer of 2023.

The goal of the Safe Streets Program’s reduction efforts is to bring the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents down to zero in the following four years.

You may find further information about the recommendation of the Department of Public Works relating to speed limits on city streets.

Besides the efforts of the city officials, any driver may also contribute to reaching the goal of reducing the traffic fatalities to zero by avoiding to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and traveling within the posted speed limits.

Alcohol can impair your judgment and reaction time, which will increase your chances of getting into an accident.

The Long Beach Police Department’s records show that there have been 41 fatalities recorded so far in 2022.