Nunes Law, Inc. Highlights California Traffic Safety Data

FRESNO, CA - August 31, 2026 -

This report, distributed by Nunes Law, Inc., examines national and state traffic safety data relevant to California drivers, following the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's release of its 2025 early fatality estimate.

NHTSA's early estimate, published April 1, 2026, projected 36,640 traffic deaths nationwide in 2025, a 6.7 percent decrease from 39,254 fatalities in 2024. The national fatality rate fell to 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the second-lowest rate in the agency's recorded history, behind only the 1.08 rate recorded in 2014. NHTSA reported that 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico were projected to see fatality decreases in 2025.

California's own most recently finalized state data, published by the California Office of Traffic Safety, showed traffic fatalities fell nearly 11 percent statewide, from 4,539 in 2022 to 4,061 in 2023. That data also showed declines across several categories of road users: pedestrian fatalities fell 8.8 percent, bicyclist fatalities fell 20.8 percent, and motorcyclist fatalities fell 10.2 percent between 2022 and 2023. California's mileage death rate, a measure of fatalities per 100 million miles traveled, fell 6 percent over the same period, to 1.26.

Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in California decreased approximately 4.5 percent between 2022 and 2023, according to the same state data, though impaired driving remains a significant factor in the state's most serious crashes. Teen driver fatalities, covering drivers ages 15 to 20, decreased about 10.1 percent over the same period.

In October 2025, the California State Transportation Agency launched a data-driven road safety initiative aimed at reducing fatal and serious injury crashes along specific high-risk corridors statewide. The agency allocated $7 million to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation for safety upgrades along Avalon Boulevard, a corridor that recorded 122 fatal and serious injury crashes between 2019 and 2023, resulting in 21 deaths and 115 serious injuries.

"The best road safety initiative is prevention, and this targeted corridor approach will save lives," California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin said in a statement announcing the program. Corridor selection was guided by crash-severity analysis conducted by the University of California, Berkeley's Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, applying a five-year window of crash data from 2019 through 2023.

California is a comparative negligence state for personal injury claims arising from vehicle collisions. Under this system, an injured driver who is found partially at fault for a crash may still recover damages, though the amount is reduced in proportion to their assigned percentage of fault.

California law also generally allows two years from the date of a crash to file a personal injury claim, and a separate two-year period applies to wrongful death claims arising from a fatal crash, though shorter notice requirements apply to claims against government entities. Claims involving a driver who leaves the scene of a crash, sometimes called a hit-and-run, may involve additional considerations depending on whether the at-fault driver is later identified.

The traffic safety data referenced in this release was compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California Office of Traffic Safety, and the California State Transportation Agency. The figures are presented for general public awareness and are subject to revision as final crash data is processed.

Nunes Law, Inc. represents car accident victims in Fresno and throughout the Central Valley, including Fresno, Kings, Kern, Madera, Merced, and Tulare counties.

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For more information about Nunes Law, Inc., contact the company here:

Nunes Law, Inc.
Nunes Law, Inc Firm Team
(559) 436-0850
info@nuneslaw.com
5088 N Fruit Ave #101, Fresno, CA 93711, United States