Garden Grove Car Accidents Get High-Tech Solutions

Garden Grove car accidents in the past decade have caused severe injuries and fatalities, the result of careless driving behaviors. Chief among these careless acts is the habit of many motorists to "beat the red light" at intersections. Sadly, red-light runners are far more likely to cause a serious injury or death than other types of car accidents. In fact, fatalities caused by red-light running are increasing at triple the rate of all other fatal car crashes. And more people are injured in red-light accidents than any other type of car collision.

"Red-light runners have dramatically pushed up our nation's car accidents statistics," noted John Bisnar of the BISNAR | CHASE law firm in Orange County, California. "As recently as 2006, 900 fatalities and over 144,000 injuries were blamed on these violators. Efforts to rein in this dangerous behavior are long overdue."

Garden Grove's overall accident statistics have swollen to unacceptable levels due, in part, to drivers who simply can't slow down as they approach a red light. Data from the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) tell the story: In 2006, there were 14 car accident deaths in Garden Grove and 862 traffic accident-related injuries. Alcohol-related car collisions took two lives and resulted in 99 injuries. Motorcycle accidents killed four and injured 44. Two pedestrians were killed and 52 were injured in Garden Grove traffic accidents.

Several years ago, Garden Grove decided it had had enough of red-light runners and implemented increased enforcement efforts. They took the high-tech approach by installing red-light cameras at many of the city's busiest intersections:

Harbor and Westminster

Magnolia and Trask

Orangewood and Brookhurst

Valley View and Chapman

Valley View and Katella

Valley View and Lampson

Brookhurst and Trask

Brookhurst and Chapman

Brookhurst and Westminster

Euclid and Bolsa

Harbor and Trask

Garden Grove's red-light camera program has produced some encouraging results-a 56.2% reduction in right-of-way violation car accidents. What's more, an Orange County government report released in 2005 revealed that accidents had dropped by 46.7 percent a year after red-light cameras were installed.

"Garden Grove's high-tech solution seems to have paid off," said John Bisnar. "Red-light running is both a habit and an aggressive driving trait that many motorists need to control. Most Americans admit to having run a red light and, sadly, many of us know someone who has been injured or killed by a red-light runner."

Be on the Hit-and-Run Lookout

BISNAR | CHASE, in conjunction with WeTip, a leading anonymous crime reporting service and law enforcement advocacy non-profit organization, is launching a program intended to wipe out hit-and-runs in the state of California by offering rewards for tips leading to the arrest and felony conviction of hit-and-run drivers. See Hit-and-Run Reward for more details.

BISNAR | CHASE 2006-2010 Super Lawyers names outstanding lawyers from more than 60 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. BISNAR | CHASE has received this award for five consecutive years. Brian Chase was named one of the 2010 Top 50 Orange County Lawyers.