Accidents in Fairfield and Rainy Roads
As the winter season continues, drivers in the Bay Area are still being confronted with rainy days. While the rain is great for making gardens grow, it also poses a risk to people using local roadways. Newly available data from the University of California at Berkeley shows just how rain affects accidents in Fairfield. Those who live in the area may be interested in learning the following local accident statistics.
Weather and Crashes in Fairfield
Data gathered from California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Fairfield Police Department (FPD) reports show that there were a total of 7,499 traumatic car crashes reported within Fairfield during 2007-2018. Out of these accidents, 368 reportedly happened while it was raining while 6,169 occurred during clear weather. Another 919 happened while it was either cloudy, snowing, foggy, or especially windy. Any remaining accidents did not have weather included in their report.
While rainy day accidents accounted for a relatively small portion (just under five percent), Fairfield isn’t a very rainy city, and only gets an average of 25 inches of rain per year. This is well under the national average of 38 annual inches of rain. Furthermore, Fairfield gets an average of 258 completely sunny days per year, while the national average is around 205.
Severity
Accidents that happened while it was raining tended to be less severe than clear-weather crashes in Fairfield. While clear-weather accidents had a fatality rate of 1.09 percent and a severe injury rate of 4.72 percent, rainy-weather collisions were at .54 and 2.99 percent, respectively. This may be due to the fact that traffic typically moves slower while drivers are trying to protect themselves in the rain.
Are Rainy Roads Dangerous?
Driving on a rainy road means that your vehicle is less able to quickly maneuver and generally takes more time to come to a complete stop. Driving in the rain also reduces visibility, especially if your headlights, windshield wipers, or defogger aren’t working properly. Furthermore, driving in the rain presents the risk of hydroplaning or misjudging the depth of a pothole. Both of these issues can easily cause major accidents.
Recovering After a Crash
Rain is only one of the factors that commonly cause collisions. In most cases, crashes happen because one or more drivers committed a traffic violation. In others, a faulty vehicle part or issue with the roadway caused the accident. In all of these cases, injured parties may be able to obtain compensation for the injuries they’ve suffered during the collision. By pursuing a personal injury claim, crash survivors can seek payment for their medical bills as well as income they’ve lost due to missing work, property damage, and other losses.
To learn more about recovering compensation following a crash, you can watch the below video. However, it’s always best to get personal advice from a trusted Fairfield personal injury lawyer before taking legal action.
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Fairfield Personal Injury Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Fairfield personal injury lawyer who has more than 38 years of experience helping people with injury claims. For free, friendly advice regarding your accident injuries, please give me a quick call at either (707) 564-1900 or (800) 404-5400.
Throughout my time helping Fairfield residents claim compensation for accident injuries, I’ve been able to achieve many high-value settlements and verdicts. If you’d like to see what my clients have written about me and my legal team, take a look at my profiles on these popular sites:
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