Traffic accidents on Highway 17 see downward trend since 2016

While this year is far from over, there have been close to 250 less accidents this year in comparison to 2017.

The “Safe on 17” task force who are tasked with looking for ways to make Highway 17 safer met today to go over the accident reports and upcoming projects.

According to California Highway Patrol there have been 557 accidents this year on the Santa Cruz side of Highway 17, in 195 of those someone was injured.

In 2017 there were 810 total collisions, 238 involving injury. 2016 saw the highest number of accidents with 989 total, 267 with injury.

Frequent drivers of Highway 17 tell KION while accident numbers have gone down, distracted driving seems to be getting worse.

“People that are holding their phone and think that you won’t see them, but you can see that they’re holding their phone and texting and trying to keep an eye on the road and you just can’t not with the curves and the amount of drivers,” says Sherry Heany who has lived off of Highway 17 for 37 years.

The safe on 17 task force formed 20 years ago and meets twice a year. CHP says thank to information from last meeting they have been able to target trouble spots that were identified during the commute hours.

“We took that data and deployed against it and it’s been very effective in raising the amount of citations that are out there, specifically in primary collision factors,” says Lt. Ian Troxell.

Drivers KION spoke with say they think another way to get people to slow down would be adding more flashing signs, “I think if there was more like hazard sign or some type of alert system that people are well aware. I mean the thing is that people will drive like that unless they get caught and highway patrol can’t be everywhere,” says Heany.

Al Covington who also drives Highway 17 frequently agrees, “LED signs help me more of just a reminder more than just the static street signs that don’t light up or anything.”