Lakeport >> With nearly double the average deaths, 2015 was one of the most fatal years for drivers in recent Lake County memory.
The final toll was 19 people killed in 18 collisions, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer Kory Reynolds said.
Of those, DUIs were a “pretty big contributing factor,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”
So far at least eight accidents are known to have had an intoxicated driver, and CHP is awaiting results for three more.
Speed was also a factor in at least four crashes.
In a normal year the county experiences about 12 fatal collisions, Reynolds said. In a drought year with a mild winter he didn’t see anything in particular contributing to the overall rise in 2015. CHP did conduct a number of safety patrols, including cell phone use, during the year.
June saw the largest number of vehicle-related fatalities leaving five people dead — three of which were on Highway 20. Highways 29 and 175 both had two people die in crashes, the rest were on other roads.
There have not been any fatal crashes in 2016, but rains have definitely contributed to more police response lately. CHP officers stay busy on rainy days dealing with calls coming in about crashes. A large majority of accident calls so far this year have been non-injury incidents involving a single car sliding off the pavement.
“People just don’t tend to slow down when it’s rainy,” Reynolds said.
During a downpour earlier this month, Reynolds said ““they had us running around” as call after call came in of collisions, estimating CHP responded to 20 incidents of which only five or six needed collision reports filed by an officer.
Reynolds reminds drivers that they can avoid losing control of their vehicles by slowing down. When it’s raining, headlights should be turned on and drivers should keep a larger following distance.
