From 2020 to 2024, there were 2,196 reported traffic collisions in Santa Barbara that resulted in injuries — and 14 of those ended in fatalities.

Bicyclists, pedestrians, and people who ride mopeds and scooters are disproportionately likely to die or suffer serious injuries than people in cars.

The number of collisions in Santa Barbara has risen steadily during the past five years, including a big uptick in 2024, even though overall traffic is down, according to the City of Santa Barbara.

While most accidents occur between noon and 6 p.m., the most serious accidents happen between midnight and 6 a.m.

“For all of us with parents who have lectured that nothing good happens in the late evening or early morning hours, that is definitely the story we see in our city of Santa Barbara collision data,” said Jessica Grant, supervising transportation planner for the city.

Grant delivered a presentation at a recent Fire & Police Commission meeting. She presented traffic collision data for 2000 through 2024. The analysis and subsequent Safe Streets 4 All Action Plan was paid for by a $799,000 state transportation grant.

“Collision statistics are not good,” Grant said.

In 2020, there 331 traffic collisions; in 2024, there were 536.

The goal of the action plan is to prevent traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries and improve mobility for all modes of transportation. The city plans to target community education, make road improvements and take other actions based on its findings to help reduce collisions. Santa Barbara is a Vision Zero city, which means it strives to eliminate all fatal and serious injuries from traffic collisions.

The plan is broken up into eight chapters, and the city will release chapters periodically through 2026.

Some of the other findings in the report include:

• About 62% of the collisions are at intersections.
• Drivers are at fault 51% of the time.
• A majority of collisions involve vehicles only.
• Of the 14 fatalities, four of the people who died were in vehicles, four were pedestrians, four were moped or motorcycle riders, and two were bicyclists.
• Speed was responsible for 16.2% of the severe or fatal collisions.
• Driving or biking while under the influence was responsible for 13.1% of the crashes.
• Improper turning, including turning at a distance unnecessarily far from a curb, turning without using turn signals or making a type of turn prohibited by signage, was responsible for 11.5% of the injuries.
• Making a maneuver without respecting the right-of-way of the other driver was responsible for 10.5% of the severe or fatal collisions.
• In 15.6% of the cases, the primary collision factor could not be determined.
• The data show that 80% of the overall collisions involve South County residents.

Grant also noted that people using vehicles while under the influence are responsible for 13% of the city’s fatal and severe injury collisions. She showed a “heat map,” with a heavy overlap of DUI crashes and downtown bars.

“I don’t think that a lot of our residents know how big of an issue DUIs are in our city,” Grant said. “The highest concentration of DUIs … is where we have on-site alcohol sales. That represents our downtown and State Street and our bar areas, where the highest number of DUI collisions are.”

She said that although there is a lot of discussion around new housing in Santa Barbara, traffic levels are not increasing. Traffic has not come back to the pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels, according to Grant.

“We are just seeing a high number of collisions, but it is not because it is an increase in traffic,” she said.

Vehicle miles traveled in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, were 10,137. In 2023, there were 9,336 total miles, according to data from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.

Although the number of collisions involving people on e-bikes also has increased, Grant said, the city has only two years of data because it previously classified electric bikes as mopeds or scooters, so it is difficult to come to full conclusions.

Collision reports are taken by Santa Barbara Police Department officers.

“When the officer takes the report, they check those boxes,” Police Chief Kelly Gordon said. “Before, there was not a separate box for e-bike, so now there is.”

The city plans to evaluate and improve safety through a variety of ways, including enforcement, engineering and education.

Click here to read the full report.