By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Traffic accidents with injuries up 20% in Manteca
Placeholder Image

Manteca’s streets are seeing a slight drop in accidents while experiencing almost a 20 percent jump in injuries.

Manteca Police Department statistics show that year-to-year comparisons of accidents within the city limits through the end of September shows a 1.22 percent drop going from 491 in 2011 to 485 this year. At the same time the number of injury accidents is up 19.66 percent going from 117 in 2011 to 140 this year. Manteca has experienced one fatal compared to none in the first nine months of 2011.

Double digit increases have been seen as well in more serious types of accidents.

• Hit and runs went from 46 to 51 for a jump of 10.87 percent.

• Driving while under the influence jumped from 38 to 49 to rise 28.95 percent.

The increase in driving under the influence accidents mirrored a 32.58 percent for DWI arrests that went from 132 to 175.

Police, though, were unable to assign as much resources to traffic enforcement per se as moving violation tickets dropped 6.66 percent going from 1,277 to 1,192. Non-moving violations dropped 7.41 percent going from 998 to 924.

Targeted enforcement efforts saw child restraint violations soar 95.24 percent going from 21 to 41. Seat belt violations jumped 10.68 percent going from 281 to 311.

Parking violations dropped 54.25 percent going from 671 to 307. Contributing significantly to that downfall was the city’s acceptance of an attorney general’s opinion that only Police Officer Standard Training certified officers and not Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police volunteers could issue parking tickets. Specially trained SHARP volunteers over the years had been issuing such tickets especially for handicapped parking violations and expired registration tags.