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The Bay Area - Spanning the Golden Gate Bridge, Jack London Square and Silicon Valley
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly referred to as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the major cities and metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas. The Bay Area's nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Home to approximately 7.44 million people, the nine-county Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a network of roads, highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels and commuter rail. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California (after the Greater Los Angeles area), the fifth-largest in the United States, and the 43rd-largest urban area in the world. To get up-to-date road information, go to the California DOT site. And to find out current weather conditions in the Bay Area go to Accuweather.com.
The Major Interstates and Freeways of the Bay Area
- Interstate 80 San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge
- Interstate 580 Richmond - San Rafael Bridge
- Route 92 San Mateo - Hayward Bridge
- Route 84 Dumbarton Bridge
The Peninsula to the South Bay
- Interstate 280 Southern, Junipero Serra, & Sinclair Freeways and Highway 101 Bayshore & South Valley Freeways
- Route 1 Cabrillo Highway Route 35 Skyline Boulevard
- Route 9, Route 17 Santa Cruz Freeway
- Route 85 West Valley Freeway, Route 237 Southbay Freeway
- Route 87 Guadalupe Freeway
- Route 152; Route 156
- Route 82 El Camino Real
North Bay
- Highway 101 Redwood Highway and Route 1 Shoreline Highway
- Interstate 505
- Route 29 through Solano County
- Route 37 Through Vallejo
- Route 12 Sonoma
East Bay
- Interstates 680 Sinclair Freeway and Interstate 880 Nimitz Freeway
- Interstate 980 Grove Shafter Freeway
- Interstate 205 Alameda County to San Joaquin County
- Route 13 Warren Freeway and Route 24 Grover Shafter Freeway
- Interstate 238 and Route 238 Mission Boulevard
- Route 4 John Muir Parkway
Here is information on the most recent accidents in The Bay Area:
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose car accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose motorcycle accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose bicycle accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose pedestrian accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose aircraft accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose train accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose commercial truck accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose boating accidents
- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose bus accidents
If you are looking for information on a specific crash that happened in the Bay Area, go to the link above for the accident type you are seeking.
If you know someone who has been injured in a Bay Area accident, here are links to the major hospitals in the region:
SAN FRANCISCO
- California Pacific Medical Center
- Saint Francis Memorial Hospital
- San Francisco General Hospital
- St. Mary's Medical Center
- UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital
OAKLAND
SAN JOSE
- Regional Medical Center of San Jose
- Good Samaritan Hospital
- Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center
- O'Connor Hospital
- Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
- El Camino Hospital Los Gatos
Grief support information for accident victims in The Bay Area
When a loved one is killed in a motor-vehicle accident, it is often helpful for grieving family and friends to get help from a grief support organization. It can be comforting to talk with others going through a similar situation, and the road to recovering from the loss may go more smoothly. Go here to get information on Bay Area grief support organizations.
Bay Area legal information for accident victims
When injury or death is the result of a motor-vehicle crash in San Francisco, Oakland or San Jose, many decisions need to be made immediately and questions need to be answered. For example, how much of the medical costs will be covered by the insurance policy? How does PIP insurance help with medical bills immediately? What if the at-fault driver has no insurance?
Where to find legal assistance after a Bay Area injury accident
After a serious crash, it is crucial to get help from a San Francisco injury attorney who understands the local regulations and legal standards, who knows how insurance policies affect accident victims, and who can handle all aspects of an insurance claim so the injured person can focus on recovery. If someone is killed in a collision, a San Francisco - San Jose wrongful death attorney will launch a claim that will begin the process of financial recovery for the family members left behind. Learn more here about what a San Francisco - San Jose personal injury lawyer can do to help.
San Francisco is a walker's city. With its mild temperatures and moderate rainfall, it is often called the “air conditioned city.” Since walking is a primary way for millions to getting around San Francisco, it makes sense that the sheer numbers of pedestrians means a higher number of pedestrian accidents.
San Francisco motorcycle crashes have common causes and devastating outcomes
Despite safety improvements, bicycle accidents are common in San Francisco
Since 2000, the percent of people who biked to work in San Francisco increased from 2.0 percent to 3.4 percent, according to 2008-2012 statistics from the American Community Survey. San Francisco had among the highest percent of commuters who bike to work.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, from 2013 to 2014, deaths increased from 560 to 610, an 8.9% increase, injuries increased from 2,620 to 2,678, a 2.2% increase and the total number of accidents increased from 4,062 to 4,064, a 0.05% increase. Where the cause of death was known, 78% of fatal boating accident victims drowned; of those drowning victims, 84% were not wearing a life jacket.
Aircraft Safety - Flying is safer but accidents still happen in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose
While rare compared to other types of motor-vehicle crashes, aircraft accidents do happen regularly, usually with devastating results. Despite significant safety improvements over the past decades, many people each year experience the pain of losing someone in an airplane crash.
Motor vehicle accidents are a common occurrence in San Francisco and across San Francisco County, California. With a huge influx daily of visitors from across the world, many crashes are caused by drivers who are unfamiliar with San Francisco freeways and roads. Many are caused by drunk drivers or distracted drivers taking in the sights. Whatever the cause, car accidents are a major safety and economic issue for the San Francisco community.
Truckers are a growing motorist group using California’s highways, and commercial trucking accidents occur regularly in the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose region. When a truck crash happens, serious injuries and fatalities are a common result.
Common causes of commercial truck accidents in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose
According to IIHS, a large percentage of trucking crashes are caused by:
As mass transit systems grow across California, bus accidents occur regularly. When a bus crash happens, serious injuries and fatalities are a common result.
Common causes of bus accidents in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, over the past 10 years:
The number of buses involved in fatal crashes decreased from 274 to 251, an 8% drop;
The size and speed of trains brings death and destruction to anyone and anything in their path. The main forms of train accidents are train derailments, train and pedestrian accidents, and train and car accidents.
To learn about train accidents in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, go to the Federal Railroad Administration site.