MOTORCYCLIST DEATHS

Motorcycle deaths in Orange County took a dramatic dip in 1988. The county’s 38 deaths was the lowest total during any of the last five years, and 38% below the number in 1987. Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Westminster all had more deaths in 1988 than 1987, but otherwise all the county’s cities held even or recorded fewer motorcycle fatalities. The largest drop occurred in Irvine. During the last five years the cities of Laguna Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Villa Park have had no motorcycle deaths.

Not only is the overall fatality down, but compared to neighboring counties, Orange County looks good as well. Only Riverside County had fewer deaths (it also has fewer registered motorcycles, 54,749 to 23,380), and Orange County’s fatality rate per 1,000 motorcycles was the lowest among the five.

Finally, the county’s fatality rate per 1,000 registered motorcycles fell to by far its lowest rate during the last five years.

City 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 Anaheim 7 8 7 16 9 Brea 3 3 2 2 2 Buena Park 0 2 2 3 2 Costa Mesa 3 4 6 7 5 Cypress 0 1 1 0 1 Fountain Valley 0 2 1 2 0 Fullerton 1 3 7 0 5 Garden Grove 1 1 7 3 1 Huntington Beach 4 3 2 8 1 Irvine 1 5 2 4 1 Laguna Beach 0 0 0 0 0 La Habra 0 0 0 0 2 La Palma 0 0 0 0 0 Los Alamitos 0 0 0 0 0 Mission Viejo 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A Newport Beach 0 0 1 1 1 Orange 2 5 4 4 2 Placentia 0 0 2 3 0 San Clemente 0 1 0 1 1 San Juan Capistrano 0 2 1 0 2 Santa Ana 6 8 5 7 8 Seal Beach 2 0 0 0 1 Stanton 0 0 2 0 2 Tustin 1 3 4 2 1 Villa Park 0 0 0 0 0 Westminster 2 1 5 1 1 Yorba Linda 0 1 2 0 2 State highways 1 1 2 2 0 County roads 4 7 13 12 10 TOTAL 38 61 78 78 60

N/A Not available 1988 FIVE-COUNTY COMPARISON

% of % of Fatalities Total 5-County State per Thousand City Fatalities Total Total Motorcycles Los Angeles 166 51 30 1.04 Orange 38 12 7 0.69 Riverside 25 8 4 1.07 San Bernardino 45 14 8 1.39 San Diego 48 15 9 0.90 5-COUNTY TOTAL 322 100 58 0.99 STATE TOTAL 556 -- -- 0.85

Source: California Highway Patrol