Long Beach Car Accidents Linked to Multiple Causes

As the 36th-largest city in the U.S. and the sixth largest in California, Long Beach is beset with a number of car accident problems. Among these are a sideswipe-prone traffic circle, too many trucks and an over-congested freeway. With an estimated half a million people, the number of car accidents continues to escalate on an annual basis. As recently as 2006, 35 people were killed and 2,015 injured in Long Beach car collisions. Alcohol-related car collisions accounted for 13 fatalities and 187 injuries.

Among the more irksome areas of traffic in Long Beach is the much-maligned Traffic Circle. Constructed in 1932, it's the highest-capacity roundabout or circle in California and maybe even the U.S. A lot of motorists simply don't know how to navigate it. Improvements in the 1990s did improve things a bit. Yield signs were placed by feeder roads, affording traffic inside the circle the right of way. Also, PCH was widened to four lanes where it entered the circle, which expanded the circle's car handling capacity to 6,000 vehicles per hour. Today, the circle handles as many as 60,000 vehicles each day. Its 470-foot diameter, including the roadway, is nearly twice as large as current design guidelines call for. Traffic typically moves faster than 30 mph, so merging and vehicle control can present a real problem for drivers inexperienced in handling this type of roadway. One Long Beach city traffic engineer noted that if the circle were regarded as a single intersection instead of four, it would be listed as having more car accidents than any other intersection in Long Beach.

Long Beach motorists encounter a different and more lethal problem in dealing with the City's ever-increasing trucks and an overcrowded, antiquated freeway. Long Beach roads, in particular the Long Beach Freeway (710), have become overburdened with big trucks that pick up loads from Long Beach ports. An alarming number of these truck drivers don't own the trucks they drive, so they don't know if their trucks have been safely maintained. These rigs are often maintained as cheaply as possible, with a few truckers carving tread in their balding tires with hot knives. This technique allows these unsafe trucks to travel freeways like the 710 without being stopped and cited. Another problem is that some trucks are dangerously overweight and carry loads that may be hundreds of pounds over the legal limit. These overburdened trucks are a hazard because when brakes are applied, they take longer distances to stop.

"There are many factors that contribute to the rising number of accidents in Long Beach," noted John Bisnar of the BISNAR | CHASE Law Firm. "The Long Beach Freeway has long been neglected. Crumbling, outdated and over burdened, its dangerous interchanges and heavy truck traffic make it one of the most accident-prone roads in the U.S. A statewide database of car accidents indicates that the 710 has averaged over 2,000 car accidents every year--more than 600 involving trucks. Hundreds of these car collisions are caused by road debris, often shed by trucks. This is a very old freeway that has far too few lanes to handle the increased levels of daily traffic."

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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.