The Chico CHP has a new officer by the name of Todd Bergman. Traffic Officer Bergman transferred from the Willows unit where he had an absolutely outstanding record for traffic enforcement. T/O Bergman has brought his skills to Chico and has continued to set an example for safety enforcement. Based on a number of compliments from local citizens and some from his own peers, his efforts are paying off by improving local seat belt compliance and thereby reducing the risk of death or injury to our area citizens.
We’re extremely proud of the job all our local law enforcement officers are doing, and we don’t mean to embarrass Todd or set him up for some kidding by his fellow officers, but we want to offer our sincere thanks from Post Scripts for a job well done.
Now we want to point how tough that job is and how well our CHP Officers are doing it:
In 2006, 4,195 people died and 277,373 people were injured in California traffic collisions. Californias 2006 Mileage Death Rate (MDR) – fatalities per 100 million miles traveled (100 Million VMT) is 1.28, much lower than the national MDR of 1.41. Of the 5 largest states in terms of total traffic fatalities, (CA, FL, TX, GA, & NC), California has the lowest rate.
Californias 2007 seat belt usage rate is 94.6%, which is significantly better than the national average of 81%. This is up from 93.4% in 2006 and represents 365,750 more Californians buckling up. Californias seat belt use rate (94.6%) is the fourth best in the nation behind Hawaii (97.6%), Washington (96.4%), and Oregon (95.4%).
In California, the percent of restrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities increased from 55.4% in 2005 to 56.4% in 2006, much better than the national average of 41.3%. Further, California was third best in the nation, with only the small states of Alaska and Oregon higher. ** In 2006, about half, 458, of the 917 known unrestrained fatalities would be alive today had they simply buckled up.
Californias 2007 child safety seat usage rate is 87.7% – dropping slightly from 87.8% in 2006.
Teen fatalities decreased 6.7% from 527 in 2005 to 492 in 2006 the lowest level since 2001.
In 2006, the percent of restrained passenger vehicle occupant teenaged fatalities was 51.8% in 2006. Since restraints are about 50% effective in preventing a fatality, NHTSA estimates that 75 dead teens would be alive today had they simply buckled up. Only Oregon has a higher restraint use. Teen use in fatalities is less that the restraint use of all California fatalities at 56.4%.
It’s our hope that the CHP Commander in Sacramento will send us a few motor officers. We sure need it. Chico is a growing community and the most effective way to protect citizens is good traffic enforcement. The dollar cost as well the injuries and deaths due to traffic accidents is far more than the sum of local criminal activity. People tend to forget that when reading about high profile crimes like robbery or homicide. Of course it’s all important and that is why Post Scripts has been and will always be… a strong supporter of law enforcement!