Traffic Tickets Down, Dangerous Accidents Up in Aliso Viejo

Ever wonder how many traffic tickets a city needs to be safe?

Police try to answer that question with a formula called the Traffic Enforcement Index. And lately, Aliso Viejo's TEI shows the city's roads are becoming more and more dangerous.

Aliso tracks its total car accidents each year, then compares the number to how many tickets were written for dangerous traffic violations—things like speeding, making illegal turns and running red lights.

"The number of significant traffic incidences is increasing in Aliso Viejo," City Manager Mark Pulone said earlier this month.

Since 2009, Aliso Viejo's TEI has gotten lower. A lower number means fewer tickets and more injury accidents in the city.

In 2011, Aliso Viejo had its first traffic fatality in eight years. In 2012, there was another fatality. Accidents causing injuries rose from a low of 44 in 2007 up to 72 in 2012.

So how can the city make the roads safer? The answer is to give out more tickets for dangerous driving, city sheriff's Sgt. D.J. Haldeman.

That's where the TEI comes in. A city with too high a TEI may be giving out too many tickets—more than necessary to reduce the number of accidents. But a city with a TEI that's too low could be sending the message that dangerous driving comes without consequences, Haldeman said.

Haldeman would like to see the TEI in the low 30s. That's when traffic is flowing smoothest and the best balance is struck between accidents and tickets, he said. In 2012, Aliso's TEI stood at 18.5.

To solve this, the city has budgeted $220,000 for a motorcycle deputy next year. That's not the deputy's salary, Haldeman said, but the total cost to put a new traffic deputy on the street, including the cost of his or her equipment, uniform, benefits and salary.