Countywide : Road Deaths Drop, CHP Says in Half-Year Report

In the first six months of 1985, the California Highway Patrol in Orange County recorded 40 road fatalities, seven fewer than in the first half of last year.

During the same period, the patrol’s Orange County division handled 2,113 injury accidents and 3,775 drunk-driving arrests. That’s about even with 1984 figures for the same period, in which there were 2,032 injury accidents and 3,776 arrests for driving under the influence. In 1983, Orange County CHP officers recorded 30 road deaths, 1,804 injury accidents and 4,064 arrests.

Statewide CHP statistics show that 2,333 people died on California roads in unincorporated areas in the first half of 1985. That was 4% over 1984 figures for the same period, and a 14.3% increase from 1983. CHP officials said 2,244 people died on state highways in 1984, and there were 2,041 deaths in 1983.

The CHP’s statewide drunk-driving arrests in the first six months of 1983 totaled 67,364; they numbered 72,732 in the first half of 1984 and 72,450 in the equivalent period of 1985.