The traffic laws behind California crashes

The 12 most common causes

1. Unsafe speed for conditions 118,505
2. Unsafe turn or lane change 86,183
3. Driving under the influence 34,641
4. Straddling or weaving between lanes 31,035
5. Running a red light 19,372
6. Not yielding while turning left 13,613
7. Unsafe starting or backing 11,559
8. Not yielding after a stop sign 10,777
9. Not yielding when leaving a driveway or alley 10,182
10. Not stopping at a stop sign 6,253
11. Following too closely 5,081
12. Not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk 4,925

Each cause links to our guide on the rule behind it.

What the ranking says about the test

The permit test is often treated as a memory exercise: stopping distances, curb colors, blood alcohol limits. The crash data shows which parts of it matter most on the road. Unsafe speed for conditions alone is the primary cause in 30.9% of crashes with a named violation. It is the basic speed law, which says your speed has to suit the conditions, not just the posted number. Unsafe turn or lane change comes second, at 22.5%. Both are judgment rules, and both are easy to break without noticing.

Several of the others are right-of-way failures: turning left in front of oncoming traffic, pulling out after a stop sign, leaving a driveway. They are the questions on the test about who goes first, and the data shows why the test spends so much time on them.

Worked example: reading one row

Take the first row of the table, unsafe speed for conditions (VC 22350), and work through what its three numbers say.

1. Share. 118,505 crashes out of the 383,483 with a named violation is 30.9%: about one crash in 3.
2. Injuries. 70,648 people injured across those crashes works out to about 60 injured for every 100 crashes.
3. Deaths per crash. 637 killed divided by 118,505 crashes, times 1,000, gives 5.4 deaths per 1,000 crashes. For not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk the same sum gives 29.2, so a crash with that cause leaves 5.4 times as many deaths behind it.
4. The ticket. Cited without a crash, the same section costs $234 in total bail and 1 DMV point at 1 to 15 mph over the limit, from the statewide schedule.

The same three steps work on any row: share of crashes, harm per crash, and what the ticket costs. A cause can rank high on the first and low on the second, which is why the next section reorders the list.

Common is not the same as deadly

Counting deaths instead of crashes changes the order. Driving under the influence was the primary cause in crashes that killed 825 people, more than any other violation. Measured per 1,000 crashes, not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk is the most lethal of the top 12, with 29.2 deaths per 1,000 crashes, against 1.4 for straddling or weaving between lanes.

1. Not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk 29.2 per 1,000
2. Driving under the influence 23.8 per 1,000
3. Not stopping at a stop sign 9.8 per 1,000
4. Unsafe turn or lane change 8.2 per 1,000
5. Running a red light 7.5 per 1,000
6. Not yielding while turning left 5.7 per 1,000
7. Not yielding after a stop sign 5.4 per 1,000
8. Unsafe speed for conditions 5.4 per 1,000
9. Not yielding when leaving a driveway or alley 3.0 per 1,000
10. Straddling or weaving between lanes 1.4 per 1,000

Young drivers: how often they are found at fault

Crash reports also record which party caused the crash. Among the 481,451 drivers with a stated age, a 16-year-old involved in a crash was marked at fault 71.8% of the time, and a 17-year-old 66.1%. For drivers aged 25 to 64 it was 42.7%. The share falls with every age band up to 64.

1. Age 16 71.8%
2. Age 17 66.1%
3. Age 18-19 64.8%
4. Age 20-24 56.7%
5. Age 25-64 42.7%
6. Age 65+ 47.5%

What were they doing? Among at-fault drivers aged 16 and 17, 13.4% were turning left when the crash happened, against 7.4% of at-fault drivers aged 25 to 64. Judging the gap in oncoming traffic is a skill that comes with practice, and the handbook rules on left turns are among the ones worth studying twice.

California's provisional license limits when new drivers can drive and whom they can carry. Our page on why the curfew and passenger rules exist looks at when and with whom teens crash.

The cause, and the ticket

The same violations carry a fine when an officer writes a ticket without a crash. From the statewide bail schedule:

• Speeding 1 to 15 mph over the limit (basic speed law) $234, 1 pt · 118,505 crashes
• Unsafe turn or lane change $234, 1 pt · 86,183 crashes
• Straddling lanes or weaving $234, 1 pt · 31,035 crashes
• Running a red light $486, 1 pt · 19,372 crashes
• Not yielding while turning left $234, 1 pt · 13,613 crashes
• Pulling out of a driveway or alley without yielding $234, 1 pt · 10,182 crashes
• Rolling through a stop sign $234, 1 pt · 6,253 crashes
• Tailgating (following too closely) $234, 1 pt · 5,081 crashes
• Not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk $234, 1 pt · 4,925 crashes

See the full ticket breakdown

How to read these numbers

The cause and the at-fault party are what the reporting officer recorded, not a court finding. The database only holds crashes that were reported to police, and 2024 records are still being revised: the copy used here was last changed on September 19, 2026. There is no mileage behind these counts, so they say how crashes happen, not how risky a mile of driving is for each age. Violations written in free text instead of a code (1,337 crashes) are left out rather than guessed, and every count below 20 is shown as a range.