It's official. The town of Eureka is the WORST location in California to drive in!!

Congratulations Eureka! You all must be very proud of yourselves. I've been preaching this opinion ever since i've moved in this weird town of September of last year. This place is literally the WORST place in California to be living in. Why? Your car and well-being is basically prone to be hit by another car, and in result, you will likely die or suffer from it.

On Monday, July 30, 2007, The Eureka Reporter newspaper released a front page story titled "Crash Course" about the significantly high levels of traffic injuries/deaths from accidents in the town of Eureka, California.
Just think about this diagram. There are about 29,000 people living in Eureka and MILLIONS of people living in Sacramento. This diagram is definitely embarrassing for the town of Eureka.
But of course it's true. Just look at the layout of the city. It's such a waste of space with all of those small white lines for roads. Instead of making residential blocks surrounded by a square of roads and sidewalks, make roads simply parallel with one another. Not only it would stop the collisions of cars at 2-way stop intersection on a one way road, but it would save alot of space for more homes and buildings. But of course, this town doesn't have the money to do this type of improvement. Why not just destroy this town and start over, shall we? Of course, i'd never return to this dump after i get out of here. NEVER. It's just so out of the way.

And so.. i will now post the article from The Eureka Reporter. Click Here for the original source of the article. And in the article below, i have BOLDED the information that really stand out to my opinion and conclusion about why i hate driving in this town so much and how people received licenses to drive here in the first place.

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"Crash Course" by Heather Muller

If dangerous driving were a competitive sport, Eureka motorists would lead the field, according to statistics compiled by the California Highway Patrol.

In 2005, the most recent year of study, city drivers managed to get themselves into 372 vehicle crashes, resulting in 402 injuries and four deaths.

The report, from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, showed motorists were at least three times more likely to be injured or killed in a car wreck within the Eureka city limits than in any other city in Humboldt County.

There was one car wreck injury or death for every 63 residents of Eureka, while other Humboldt County cities in the study scored far better than the state average of one vehicle injury or death for every 126 residents.

In Fortuna, the rate was one in 242. Arcata: one in 331. Rio Dell was the safest city in the county for motorists in 2005, with only one car wreck injury for every 1,579 residents.

Humboldt County as a whole rated one injury or death for every 116 residents — but when Eureka’s population and car crash numbers were omitted from the tally, that rate improved to one in 151 county residents, almost 20 percent better than the state average.

And Eureka’s numbers were impressively bad even when compared to cities on the other side of the Redwood Curtain.

While many residents moved to the North Coast to escape the traffic of the big cities, those who moved to Eureka may have significantly increased their chances of being injured or killed in a traffic collision.

In 2005, Redding had fewer car wreck injuries and deaths than Eureka per capita — one in 85 residents — as did Sacramento (one in 70), San Francisco (one in 141) and even Los Angeles (one in 89).

In fact, according to the California Department of Traffic Safety, among cities of fewer than 50,000 residents, Eureka actually led the state in speed-related and hit-and-run injuries and deaths per capita, and was second only to Beverly Hills in DUI wrecks and total injuries and deaths per capita resulting from all car crashes.

If recent reports are any indication, Eureka’s numbers are likely to be much higher for 2007.

When Eureka Police Department Public Information Officer Suzie Owsley issued a news release Tuesday announcing yet another injury collision at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Sixth Street — the city’s most accident-prone intersection — she noted that the collision was the 87th crash resulting in injury or significant damage in the city limits within the past 30 days.

But when asked how many similar wrecks occurred in the 30 days prior to that, she said that number was even higher, with the city’s seemingly nonstop destruction derby resulting in 93 car wrecks from May 25 through June 24.

“Over the last three weeks we’ve had numerous traffic collisions, one right after the other, and they’re getting worse and worse and worse,” said EPD Officer Greg Hill, one of two traffic officers currently working for the EPD.

He noted that many of the collisions he’s been called to lately were caused by a failure to yield the right of way — which Owsley identified as the leading cause of crashes in Eureka.

A two-vehicle crash at Harris and S streets Monday provided one example of this — and sent six people to the hospital — as did the Tuesday morning collision at Myrtle and Sixth in which two people were injured.

So is the problem bad driving, lack of enforcement, lousy street design or a combination of all three?

On Thursday, The Eureka Reporter attempted to contact the EPD’s traffic sergeant to ask that question and learned that the position no longer existed.

EPD Chief Garr Nielsen explained that the position was administrative and it didn’t make much sense to him to have one administrator managing only two traffic officers. Instead, he said, the sergeant had been reassigned and Nielsen planned to fill the spot with an additional traffic patrol officer.

The chief said he was surprised by the car wreck statistics, but believed numerous factors affected Eureka’s abysmal rating.

He named the city’s maze of one-way streets and the confusing run of U.S. Highway 101 through the middle of the city as contributing factors — and there is some statistical support for both.

According to figures provided by Owsley, of Eureka’s 26 most popular collision sites in 2007, 17 involved at least one one-way street and nine took place along the highway.

But whatever the reason, Nielsen said, the rates were unacceptable, and he was quick to note that the EPD must shoulder some of the blame.

“I think Eureka drivers are probably like drivers in any community. For the most part, they’re courteous and safe and drive defensively, but there’s always that faction that disregards the rules of the road and doesn’t pay attention,” he said.

“The bottom line is, if you don’t have good traffic enforcement, those people are going to take advantage of opportunities, and I think to some extent that’s occurring.”

He added that 90 percent of the complaints police departments field in any community center around traffic enforcement — and on that statistical point, at least, Eureka is right in line with other jurisdictions.

“I’m not going to make excuses and say it’s not a problem in this town, because I’ve seen it myself. We need to do a better job educating the public and a better job of providing traffic enforcement. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re going to get there.”

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This article states it all.

When the EDP Chief mentioned how drivers here are usually courteous and safe, that's total bullshit. I am a (temporary) resident here and i have never seen so many stupid drivers here. When people mention Humboldt County having the "best" weed, the consequences of having that here are bad drivers. You can honestly bet that many of them are as high as the clouds and driving. Yeah, and you thought that weed was harmless. Fuckin' idiots. Don't do drugs. I have friends who have literally seen the deterioration of their friends right in front of their eyes as they turn to weed to undo the stress of everyday life. Total weakness, i say.

I also want to point out in the beginning of the article when it states "while many residents moved to the North Coast to escape the traffic of the big cities", this is also a highlight to one of my prime nuisances about those that move here. Remember me calling them "washed up"? That's right. They can't handle the traffic down in the cities, because they do not know how to drive properly and defensively. They deal with accidents that they have caused or have been in. And thus, move to Eureka to get away from it all. Unfortunately, it's much worse for them to move up there because they would likely be killed by a t-bone collision at an intersection in Eureka compared to a person cutting in front of you on the highways down on the PCH.

This is why there are so many banged up and literally cars that are falling apart driving around town. I seriously want to know how cars that look so bad are even allowed to drive on the roads. I have lived in the south, in North Carolina, and i have seen "bad-looking" cars. But i have NEVER seen cars that seemed like they were going to fall apart as they drove, when i compare other places to this place called Eureka. I hardly seen any type of of luxury cars such as BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes. There's no point in driving them here. They will end up in the car dump pound, where it will be crushed into a square and recycled. One thing i also notice is cars that look really ugly, they make it more uglier and direct your attention to the rear of their car where they have placed literally hundreds of bumper stickers of their political views and other causes. Nothing gets any more hippie than that. I do think it's fine if you have one or two, but covering your entire rear of your car is just plain stupid. You forgot to cover the side of the car, the roof, and also the hood. It's disgusting.

In conclusion, i suggest not moving to this town. You will die a slow death from the gloomy weather and the depressing faces of people walking around in shabby colorless clothing. You'd be lucky if you died from a car collision here. Just dealing with the insurance company and other physical problems are hard enough already when majority of the people living in this town are Caucasian lower-middle to low-(or NO)-income households. I do have to admit that Eureka is a good place to brush away the bad drivers, the hardcore hippies/liberals , and the pot heads away from society. It's just unfortunate that i'm living here right now. I'm really going to step-up my defensive driving from this day forward. I have never pushed the car horn so many times before. lol.. damn Eurekans.