With less Santa Clarita residents commuting to work due to the coronavirus, traffic citations and collisions on the freeways were down in March, however, citations for over 100 miles per hour were higher, officials said Friday.

In March of 2019, officers with the California Highway Patrol Newhall Area Office issued 1,541 citations, said Officer Josh Greengard, spokesperson for the office.

However, due to the “Safer at Home” act, traffic and citations were down on Santa Clarita freeways last month, according to CHP officials.

In March of 2020, CHP officers only issued 940 overall traffic citations, Greengard said.

“Our call volume has gone down a little bit, and traffic speeds have picked up a little,” Greengard said.

With the freeways being less congested, CHP officers have reported more drivers breaking triple digits, Greengard said.

“There are more tickets being written for drivers going over 100 miles an hour,” Greengard said.

Earlier in the week, CHP officers with the Fort Tejon Area Office cited the driver of a Ferrari 488GTB for driving around 135 mph, according to officials.

CHP officials are reminding Santa Clarita drivers that just because you can go fast doesn’t mean you should.

“You are putting your life and others at risk,” Greengard said.

As a result of fewer drivers on the road, car crashes have decreased this March compared to last year despite having multiple rainy days this year.

In March of 2020 there were 248 traffic collisions reported to the CHP, compared to 317 in 2019, Greengard said.

Although the number of crashes this year were lower than last year’s report, the number of collisions still fell within the average amount of car accidents seen monthly by Newhall CHP officers.

“We usually average in the high 200s to the low 300s in any average month,” Greengard said.

However, in the winter months, rain starts affecting peoples’ travel more, which could result in the potential for more collisions.

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