2025 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Preventing Roadside Deaths

Introduction

Preventing roadside deaths involving first responders (emergency medical service, law enforcement, and firefighting personnel), roadside assistance providers (vehicle towing personnel, mobile mechanics, emergency roadside technicians, and safety service patrollers), and those operating in work zones are of high priority for California.

Move Over Laws & Work Zone Safety

Roadside crashes are preventable if drivers slow down, move over safely with regard to traffic conditions, and pay close attention to their environment. California vehicle code (CVC) 20002, or the Steer Clear Law, requires that the driver involved in a crash where damage occurred to any property, including other vehicles, stop the vehicle immediately at the nearest location that will not impede the safety of other motorists or disrupt traffic.

California also requires drivers to move, pull over, or take caution as to not create a hazard or impede traffic. California vehicle code (CVC) 21809, also known as the “Move Over” law, was enacted in 2007 and amended first in 2009 and then 2021. It aims to create a safer environment for persons associated with certain authorized first responder and Caltrans vehicles stopped alongside roadways near traffic by requiring drivers to move over a lane, or if unable to do so safely to slow down, when approaching the stationary vehicle. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) seeks to increase awareness of highway safety laws such as California’s “Move Over” law with public education efforts including a safety campaign in partnership with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

Roadside Assistance Provider Fatalities

Roadside assistance providers (RAPs) help others when a crash occurs or if a vehicle breaks down. They are particularly vulnerable to fatal or serious injury when struck by drivers traveling at high speeds.

Roadside Assistance Provider (RAP) Fatalities in the US from 2015 - 2021

Data source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. (2024). Roadside Assistance Providers Fatally Struck by Vehicles at the Roadside: Incidence and Characteristics, figure 7.

Summary

In January 2024, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published a technical report analyzing the outcomes and characteristics of 123 RAP fatalities struck by drivers at the roadside in the United States from 2015 to 2021.
It found that 94.3% of RAP fatalities occurred outside of a vehicle on the shoulder, roadside, or in the travel lane, 88.6% of RAP fatalities were in locations with speed limits of 55 miles per hour or higher, and 62.6% of RAP fatalities occurred when lighting conditions were dark.
Specialized training for RAPs, particularly to increase education around safety, such as avoiding working on the traffic-facing side of a scene, may help to prevent roadside fatalities. Increased public compliance with “Move Over” laws may also help prevent crashes and fatalities occurring roadside.

Traffic Incident Management Training Programs

The California Traffic Incident Management (CA TIM) Training is provided through Caltrans to increase knowledge surrounding safely managing traffic incident scenes. Upon training completion, participants are expected to apply pertinent codes to activities and tasks related to traffic incident management. This training contains information specific to the State to supplement the Federal National Highway Institute (NHI) National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training. The NHI TIM Training covers topics like scene safety, safe vehicle positioning, command responsibilities, and traffic management, and must be completed prior to the CA TIM Training.

Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Training Rates

Data Source: Federal Highway Administration. (n.d.). Traffic Incident Management (TIM). U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 23rd, 2025 from https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/tim(link is external)

Summary

Despite training one of the highest number of responders in the nation in TIM at 33,521 individuals as of September 2025, only 39 percent of California’s responder workforce is NHI TIM trained, below the goal of 65 percent TIM trained.

TIM Training Rates across first Responder Groups in California*

bar chart detailing TIM training rates by first responder group. For more information, see the summary.

*Rates are as of September 2025

Data Source: Federal Highway Administration. (n.d.). Traffic Incident Management (TIM). U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 23rd, 2025 from https://fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/tim

Summary

All towing and recovery responders (100 percent) are trained in NHI TIM, while training rates for law enforcement, fire and rescue and EMS responders, and Caltrans or public works responder ranged from 13 percent to 84 percent.

Data Analysis

The figures in this section refer to fatalities that occurred in crashes involving a parked or working vehicle.

Crashes involving Parked or Working Vehicles Fatality Trends 2019 - 2023

Data Source: FARS 2019 – 2022 Final File & 2023 ARF

Summary

Nationally, 1,160 individuals were killed in crashes involving a parked or working vehicles in 2023.
In California, 176 individuals were killed in crashes involving a parked or working vehicles in 2023.
Parked or working vehicles crash fatalities decreased nationally by 6 percent between 2022 and 2023.
Parked or working vehicles crash fatalities decreased in California by 9.4 percent between 2022 and 2023.

California

The following summary refers only to crashes involving a parked or working vehicle in California in 2022.

Top 5 Counties in California by Fatalities in 2023


Ranking	Counties	Fatalities
1	Los Angeles	63
2	San Bernardino	16
3	Orange	13
3	San Diego	13
5	Alameda	9

Data source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) ARF 2023

Crash Location for Fatal Parked or Working Vehicle Crashes

Crash Location of Fatal Parked or Working Vehicle Crashes in California in 2023

infographic detailing the breakdown of fatal parked or working vehicle crashes by location in California in 2023. For more information, go to the following summary.

Note: Urban and Rural areas are defined in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) based on the boundaries decided by the US Census Bureau which considers population and housing density.

Data sources: i) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) ARF 2023; ii) California Public Road Data 2022. pp. 10-12, Table 4 2022 HPMS. https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/hpms2022_prd_final.pdf

Summary

In 2023, the majority (91 percent) of parked or working vehicle fatal crashes occurred in urban areas, while 9 percent occurred in rural areas. For comparison, about 18.9 percent of travel took place on rural roads in 2022.
A little more than a quarter (26 percent) of fatal parked or working vehicle crashes occurred on Minor Arterials, followed by principal arterials (22 percent), interstates (22 percent) and local roads (14 percent) in 2023.
Of all fatal parked or working vehicle crashes in 2023, 31.9 percent of crashes occurred on a roadway. This was followed by shoulder crashes which made up 25 percent and median and roadside crashes which made up 24.4 percent each.

Top 5 Counties in California by Fatalities Per 100k Population In 2023


Ranking	County	Fatalities per 100k Population
1	Madera	1.9
2	Kings	1.3
3	Tulare	1.0
4	Humboldt	0.7
5	San Bernardino	0.7

Note: Rankings are based on unrounded fatality rates.

Data source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) ARF 2023

Fatal Parked or Working Vehicle Victim Demographics

Fatal Parked or Working Vehicle Victim Demographics in California in 2023

Data source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) ARF 2023

Summary

The age category with the greatest number of parked or working vehicle crash fatalities was age 15-34, with 29.7 percent. A majority (68.8 percent) of parked or working vehicle crash fatalities were male.
72.7 percent of fatalities had an unknown race. Of the victims with known race, 69 percent were white.

Data definitions expressed as queries are available in the data dictionary on google sheets.

References

California Department of Transportation. (2019, October). Move over. It’s the law. https://dot.ca.gov/news-releases/news-release-2019-080 (Accessed September 2025)
California Department of Transportation. (2023). California public road data 2022. https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/hpms2022_prd_final.pdf
Federal Highway Administration. (2023, November 6). National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training Program: Training status report. U.S. Department of Transportation. https://transops.s3.amazonaws.com/uploaded_files/2024-01/TIM%20Training%20Status%20Report%20-%20110623.pdf
National Operations Center of Excellence. (2024). TIM responder training. https://transportationops.org/tim/responder-training (Accessed September 2025)
Tefft, B. C., Wei, A., & Steinbach, R. (2024, January). Roadside assistance providers fatally struck by vehicles at the roadside: Incidence and characteristics. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/202401-AAAFTS-Roadside-Responder-Fatalities.pdf (Accessed September 2025)
California Vehicle Code § 20002 (2022).
California Vehicle Code § 21809 (2022).

This report was prepared in cooperation with the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of OTS.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.