For the fifth consecutive year, there has been a drop in car accident fatalities in the state of California. According to statistics by the California Office of Traffic Safety, auto accident fatalities in 2010 dropped to 2,715 from 3,081 deaths in 2009. That was an 11.9% drop, and is the biggest drop recorded in California since 1944. For some more perspective, it is a drop of 37% from 2005.

The California Office of Traffic Safety attributes this decline to a number of factors, including increased and high visibility enforcement, expanded use of sobriety checkpoints across California, as well as the use of public awareness campaigns. However, Los Angeles car accident attorneys believe that the drop has much more to do with the fact that people are driving safer cars and that there are now fewer accidents involving people who think it is safe to drive after they have had a few drinks. The fact that drunk driving accidents have been down over the past five years, has contributed to a substantial decline in auto accident deaths.

The California Office of Traffic Safety also believes that safer highway design and easier access to emergency and trauma care services is helping save more lives in accidents.

More than 2,700 accident deaths in a year in spite of safer vehicles, fewer drunk drivers and greater adherence to traffic safety laws, is no reason for celebration. Fortunately the California Office of Traffic Safety does not plan to let up on accident prevention efforts. The agency plans to give out millions of dollars in grants to local agencies around the state to be used for highway safety initiatives.

However, most of the grants will fund prevention of drunk driving accidents, with little attention paid to other growing accident factors, like the increasing number of drivers driving under the influence of prescription medications, or distracted drivers.