Redding is a city with a mix of residential areas, business districts, and several major roadways, like Interstate 5, which cuts right through the city. The traffic here is pretty much unlike anything you’ve seen in other cities.
If you’ve ever driven along Hilltop Drive during peak hours, you know how congested it can get. Or take Highway 44, a major east-west corridor that connects to I-5. That stretch can see heavy traffic, especially near the Sundial Bridge exit. These are just two of the places where accidents frequently occur because of the volume of cars and, frankly, driver impatience.
Because of the mix of suburban streets and major highways in Redding, accidents are not rare occurrences. One glimpse at Redding auto accident statistics and you’d understand why urgent actions have to be taken to tone down the radical nature of the roads.
Car Accident Statistics
The California Office of Traffic Safety keeps track of these incidents through a database. This system helps them see patterns and, hopefully, make roads safer.
Let’s dig into a few specifics that stood out from 2021’s report:
- Speeding: Out of 105 similar cities, Redding ranked 16th for speed-related crashes. There were 90 crashes due to speeding alone.
- Nighttime crashes: Crashes mainly happened between 9 p.m. to almost 3 a.m. 22 accidents happened in these late hours.
- Drunk driving: There were 53 alcohol-involved crashes, ranking Redding at 34 out of 105 for cities with DUI accidents. Young drivers (under 21) were in one crash after drinking, while drivers aged 21–34 were involved in 19 such incidents.
The rest of the crashes involved pedestrians, cyclists, or other less common reasons but still dangerous incidents like rollovers.
Fridays tend to be the worst day for accidents. Maybe it’s because people are in a rush to start their weekend, or maybe they’re just not as focused by the end of the week, but fender-benders and even more serious crashes spike on Fridays.
Data Collection Has Helped Identify Accident Hotspots in Redding
Statistics are pointless if they aren’t used to curb exasperating issues. Thankfully, the right bodies in Redding are doing the right thing with the data they have been presented with.
It all starts with looking closely at the data. Redding’s city planners, law enforcement, and transportation agencies work together to figure out exactly where the accidents are happening, what time of day they’re most likely to occur, and what’s causing them.
Take Hilltop Drive and Cypress Avenue, for example. These roads have been flagged as two of the most dangerous in Redding. They’re busy areas, full of businesses, which means there’s always a lot of cars pulling in and out of driveways.
With so much traffic and activity, rear-end collisions and fender benders are bound to happen. By identifying these hotspots, city planners can make smarter decisions, like adding more traffic lights, putting up better signs, or even redesigning parts of the roads to make them safer.
Statistics also help when it comes to understanding things like distracted driving. In Redding, there’s been a concerning jump in accidents caused by texting while driving. That’s a big problem, and knowing this has helped the city take action.
At the moment, there are public safety campaigns aimed at getting people to put their phones down while driving. Also, there are more patrols out there specifically looking for drivers who are texting.
