Modesto residents face a deadly threat to their lives every day, whether they notice it or not. The risk is found on the busy streets and highways that crisscross Modesto. Distracted and reckless drivers can be found in the lanes during rush hour and even in the middle of the night. They can cause devastating crashes.
There are plenty of safe drivers in our city, but even they can be forced into devastating collisions when other motorists get careless. Abogados de Acero: Profesionales de Accidentes en Modesto wanted to give local drivers a look at the toll roadway accidents take on our community each year. We studied the latest crash data to illustrate the immediate need for more care and caution along our busiest streets.
How Many Accidents Happen in Modesto Each Year?
Modesto has averaged 1,372 accidents involving injuries every year over the past five years (2019-2023). It’s a shocking number for the city’s size. Those injuries can involve broken arms and legs and dangerous head injuries, leading to hundreds of people ending up in emergency rooms like the one at Memorial Medical Center.
California’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) recorded 1,297 accidents involving injury on Modesto roads in 2023. That was down a little from the past two years when accident totals were well over 1,400 incidents. It remains to be seen how 2024 crash figures will affect the trends.
People can heal from most injuries, but fatal accidents leave a permanent hole in the lives of family members, friends, and the community.
There are two things that stand out in the data on Modesto’s fatal accidents over the past few years. It’s easy to see the jump from 2019’s fatality rate to 2020 and beyond. It’s also notable that in the two years that accident rates were lower (the 2020 pandemic year and 2023) the number of fatalities didn’t really fall. It’s a sad reminder of the danger that’s carried into collisions along busy roads like Briggsmore Avenue and McHenry Avenue.
According to TIMS, there were 20 victims who lost their lives in accidents in Modesto in 2020.
- Modesto averaged 116 traffic accident injuries and fatalities a year over the past five years (2019-2023). That placed it around 14th on a list that included the injury rates of all major California cities. By comparison, Fresno was 7th on the list, averaging 214 injuries and fatalities a year. Sacramento was third with 328 injuries and fatalities a year on average. That’s according to the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS).
Which Highways See the Most Accidents in Modesto
Modesto motorists know their trip on busy highways through the county can be treacherous. Produce trucks can merge with Amazon and Walmart semi-trucks to create dangerous hazards for motorists in normal vehicles.
Highway 99 is the most heavily traveled route through the city. Drivers here may be from about anywhere. They can be looking at their phones instead of noticing a traffic jam ahead. They may be speeding 20 mph over the limit and at risk of losing control and creating a multi-vehicle pileup.
According to TIMS, Highway 99 through Stanislaus County was the stretch of highway with the most accidents in the area recording 302 collisions involving injury in 2023. Highway 132 (known as McHenry Avenue through Modesto) had less than half those accidents and yet still matched Highway 99 in the number of fatalities for the year. Highway 108/Yosemite Highway had quite a few serious accidents, but thankfully, no deaths.
How Many Hispanic Drivers and Passengers Are Involved in Modesto Car Accidents?
Over the past three years, an average of 93 Modesto accidents involving injury a year have involved Hispanic drivers or passengers.
In 2023, Modesto recorded 84 collisions involving injury where a Hispanic driver or passenger was involved. According to California’s records, only one Hispanic victim was killed in those accidents, but at least 122 people were hurt in those same accidents.
- According to California DOT, 11,397 Hispanic victims were killed in fatal California car accidents between 2010 and 2020. That makes up around 35% of all statewide fatalities over the decade.
- Nationally, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that in 2018 5,632 Hispanic or Latino motorists lost their lives across the nation in traffic collisions. That figure made up around 15% of all fatalities in the U.S. for the year.
Hope for a Safer 2025 and Beyond for Modesto Travelers
All local drivers should take these unpleasant numbers to heart and really try to pay more attention to the road ahead. It’s the only way the number of incidents resulting in injuries and fatalities will fall. It’s the only way that more Modesto residents will be able to return to their homes safe and sound.
Abogados de Acero: Profesionales de Accidentes en Modesto serves all victims in Stanislaus County. Contact us today for a free consultation if you or a loved one were seriously hurt in a car accident and a reckless driver was to blame. We want to help you earn the most money possible to pay for your recovery.
If you need our help, you won’t need any money to hire us. Our Modesto car accident lawyers don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money you receive.