California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that was described as “prioritizing road safety improvements on some of California’s deadliest roads.”
Vehicle crashes in the state are described by Sen. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta, as consistently a top cause of “unintentional injury or death” for Californians. He added that traffic fatalities surged 22% from 2019 to 2022. Additionally, he said severe and fatal traffic crashes resulted in $166 billion in economic and quality-of-life costs for Californians in 2022.
His bill, SB936, called for making the California Department of Transportation responsible for publishing a study identifying the top 15 locations in the state highway system with the highest rate of vehicle collisions.
Projects would have been proposed to improve road safety at each of the identified locations by January 2026.
Seyarto said the legislation was an effort to properly fund and prioritize rehabilitation on affected roads.
He added that local municipalities have resorted to declaring a state of emergency to free up resources to deal with dangerous roads. He claimed there has been “little to no state action taken in response.”
Unfortunately the Governor has vetoed SB 936, my legislation prioritizing road safety improvements on some of California’s deadliest roads.
We cannot afford to continue patching up dangerous roads with short-term fixes that cost lives and escalate expenses in the long run. pic.twitter.com/EIaMg2Ul5g— Senator Kelly Seyarto (@SenatorSeyarto) September 24, 2024
Veto
In his veto message, Newsom said the bill was unnecessary.
“Caltrans is already implementing various initiatives to prioritize road safety improvements,” Newsom wrote. “While I support efforts to expedite traffic safety enhancements, this bill conflicts with Caltrans’ data-driven approach to identifying and developing a holistic traffic safety framework for its projects.”
He added that prioritizing locations based solely on overall collision rates, without considering crash severity and other associated collision factors, may fail to address the areas of greatest safety concern.
“Existing safety planning efforts that proactively identify and implement safety projects … can already effectively achieve the goals that this bill seeks to accomplish.”
What’s next?
Seyarto said he is “deeply disappointed” by the veto.
“(The veto) sends a message that road safety isn’t being prioritized at a time when fatalities are on the rise,” he said.
SB936 could be considered for a possible veto override.
Senate and Assembly lawmakers approved the bill by unanimous consent. A two-thirds majority would be needed in each chamber to override the veto.
Despite its unanimous support in the chambers, an override is high unlikely. California state lawmakers have not overridden a veto in more than 40 years. LL
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