Motorists in Northern California may be more likely to be injured or die in a DUI crash than their SoCal counterparts, new research suggests.
California-based criminal defense law firm Simmrin Law Group analyzed Cal Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System to find the total number of fatalities and injuries from car crashes involving alcohol between 2018 and 2022 in all 58 Golden State counties.
The data found that no SoCal county finished in the top 30 for most deaths involving drunk drivers.
Atop the list of most dangerous counties for fatalities and injuries due to drunken driving is Mendocino County, where of the 2,552 total car and traffic collisions between 2018 and 2022, 515 of them – or about one in every five crashes – were deadly.
Rounding out the top five counties with the most drink-driving fatalities are Calaveras County (20.1%); Plumas County (20.03%); Trinity County (18.98%) and Amador County (18.30%).
As for SoCal counties, Los Angeles County has one of the lowest percentages of deadly DUI crashes in the whole state, finishing 55th out of 58.
Despite having the most total collisions by far (363,303 between 2018 and 2022), only 32,025 of them – or just under nine percent – were fatal.
Just above L.A. County in 54th is Orange County, where 9.76 percent of all DUI crashes (8,372 out of 85,791) result in at least one death.
A list of the California counties with the most DUI fatalities between 2018 and 2022 can be viewed in the table below:
| Rank | County | Total car fatalities and injuries (2018-2022) | Total car fatalities and injuries involving alcohol (2018-2022) | % of fatalities and injuries involving alcohol |
| 1. | Mendocino | 2,552 | 515 | 20.18% |
| 2. | Calaveras | 1,490 | 300 | 20.13% |
| 3. | Plumas | 709 | 142 | 20.03% |
| 4. | Trinity | 669 | 127 | 18.98% |
| 5. | Amador | 1,404 | 257 | 18.30% |
| 6. | Lake | 2,274 | 412 | 18.12% |
| 7. | El Dorado | 4,272 | 773 | 18.09% |
| 8. | Nevada | 2,637 | 469 | 17.79% |
| 9. | Santa Cruz | 6,848 | 1,178 | 17.20% |
| 10. | Tuolumne | 2,428 | 407 | 16.76% |
| 11. | Colusa | 918 | 153 | 16.67% |
| 12. | Sierra | 200 | 33 | 16.50% |
| 13. | Humboldt | 3,570 | 586 | 16.41% |
| 14. | Modoc | 325 | 53 | 16.31% |
| 15. | Siskiyou | 1,512 | 241 | 15.94% |
| 16. | Napa | 4,813 | 754 | 15.67% |
| 17. | Tehama | 2,039 | 315 | 15.45% |
| 18. | Madera | 5,260 | 804 | 15.29% |
| 19. | Shasta | 4,881 | 743 | 15.22% |
| 20. | Glenn | 855 | 130 | 15.20% |
| 21. | Mariposa | 520 | 19 | 15.19% |
| 22. | Butte | 5,948 | 892 | 15.00% |
| 23. | Del Norte | 951 | 142 | 14.93% |
| 24. | Sonoma | 13,098 | 1,949 | 14.88% |
| 25. | Monterey | 12,489 | 1,830 | 14.65% |
| 26. | San Luis Obispo | 6,841 | 996 | 14.56% |
| 27. | Kings | 4,363 | 618 | 14.16% |
| 28. | Lassen | 791 | 112 | 14.16% |
| 29. | Yuba | 2,709 | 378 | 13.95% |
| 30. | Tulare | 13,883 | 1,936 | 13.95% |
| 31. | San Benito | 2,048 | 281 | 13.72% |
| 32. | Sutter | 3,639 | 498 | 13.69% |
| 33. | Inyo | 791 | 106 | 13.40% |
| 34. | Santa Barbara | 12,116 | 1600 | 13.21% |
| 35. | Merced | 11,746 | 1,542 | 13.13% |
| 36. | Fresno | 23,568 | 3,087 | 13.10% |
| 37. | San Diego | 91,071 | 11,856 | 13.02% |
| 38. | Mono | 549 | 71 | 12.93% |
| 39. | Kern | 28,825 | 3,698 | 12.83% |
| 40. | Placer | 10,999 | 1,348 | 12.26% |
| 41. | Contra Costa | 25,224 | 3,090 | 12.25% |
| 42. | Stanislaus | 23,329 | 2,805 | 12.02% |
| 43. | Riverside | 72,672 | 8,660 | 11.92% |
| 44. | San Joaquin | 29,771 | 3,521 | 11.83% |
| 45. | Marin | 6,009 | 701 | 11.67% |
| 46. | Yolo | 6,556 | 755 | 11.52% |
| 47. | San Bernardino | 75,856 | 8,735 | 11.52% |
| 48. | Solano | 13,519 | 1,521 | 11.25% |
| 49. | Imperial | 4,024 | 449 | 11.16% |
| 50. | Ventura | 25,214 | 2,779 | 11.02% |
| 51. | Santa Clara | 44,175 | 4,812 | 10.89% |
| 52. | San Mateo | 16,479 | 1,770 | 10.74% |
| 53. | Sacramento | 57,907 | 6,160 | 10.64% |
| 54. | Orange | 85,791 | 8,372 | 9.76% |
| 55. | Los Angeles | 363,303 | 32,025 | 8.81% |
| 56. | Alameda | 47,384 | 4,123 | 8.70% |
| 57. | San Francisco | 22,264 | 1,870 | 8.40% |
| 58. | Alpine | 200 | 18 | 8% |
Types of roads are likely influence the data, according to Managing Partner and Founder of Simmrin Law Group Michael Simmrin.
“It is likely that these figures are influenced by the types of roads in each county, as Mendocino and Calaveras have plenty of long, rural highways, which could increase the temptation to drive whilst under the influence of alcohol,” Simmrin said.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the safest way to report a drunk driver is to have a passenger call 911 if possible. If alone, motorists are advised to pull over or use a handsfree device to call police.
