Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness (Bisti Badlands) is a 45,000-acre wilderness area full of rock formations made of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and silt.
Navajo Lake is a 3800 feet long and 400 feet deep reservoir located in northeastern San Juan County, created from a dam completed in 1962.
Shiprock (Tsé Bitʼaʼí, "rock with wings") is a 27 million year old volcanic rock formation, designated as a National Natural Landmark, rising 1,583 feet above the desert.
The San Juan River is a 383 mile long major tributary of the Colorado River and a primary drainage for the Four Corners.
The Aztec Ruins National Monument, on 318 acres, consists of dwellings and sacred structures built by Ancient Pueblo Indians in the 12th and 13th Centuries.
Angel Peak Scenic Area is located 15 miles south of Bloomfield in San Juan County, with over 10,000 acres of rugged terrain, badlands and deep canyons.
The eggs and hoodoos in the Bisti Wilderness were formed in sand and silt revealed 73 million years ago when the Western Interior Seaway receded.
The La Plata Mountains, seen from San Juan County, are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains in sw Colorado, and includes Hesperus Mountain at 13,332 feet.

Traffic Crashes & Fatalities


Traffic Fatalities

In 2022, there were 19 traffic fatalities, down from 34 in 2021. 9 of these (47.4%) involved drivers under the influence of alcohol. By comparison, alcohol was involved in 22.7% of traffic crash fatalities in New Mexico.
Traffic Fatalities in Alcohol-Involved Crashes
Of the 19 traffic fatalities (in 2022)
9 were in alcohol-involved crashes

Trends, Traffic Crash Fatalities

The number of traffic fatalities were lower in 2020 and in 2022 than in the previous 10 years.

Trends, Alcohol-Involved Traffic Crashes

San Juan County is among the five worst counties in New Mexico for rates of alcohol-involved motor vehicle crashes.

Over a longer period of time, there has been a gradual decline in the number of alcohol-involved traffic crashes, decreasing from 302 crashes with alcohol-impaired drivers in 2001, to 149 in 2020. The number of alcohol-involved crashes spiked somewhat in 2021, to 199.

Crashes involving alcohol-impaired underage drivers (under age 21) decreased  to 11 in 2021.

Alcohol-Involved Crashes with Drivers Under Age 21

Males are typically more likely to be the driver in an underage alcohol-involved crash compared to females. In 2021, the number of alcohol-involved crashes with male underage drivers decreased from 14 in 2020 to 6 in 2021.

Crash Severity

Alcohol-involved crashes are proportionally more severe, that is, are more likely to involve a fatality or injury.

In 2021 of the 199 alcohol-involved crashes; 7% of them (14) were fatal crashes and 43.2% involved an injury. By comparison, there were 2317 non-alcohol involved crashes; 1% of them (25) resulted in a fatality and 29.6% involved an injury.
Sources for alcohol-involved crashes are the Community Reports for San Juan County, New Mexico Department Transportation, Traffic Safety; published in collaboration with UNM Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS):
https://gps.unm.edu/tru/crash-reports/community-reports.

Fatalities data are from the New Mexico Dept of Transportation Monthly Traffic Fatality Reports: https://gps.unm.edu/tru/crash-reports/fatality-reports

DWI data and comparison rates were drawn from the NMDOT New Mexico DWI Reports: https://gps.unm.edu/tru/crash-reports/annual-dwi-reports

National statistics for alcohol-involvement, available for 2018: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812864
An alternative rate for traffic crash data is 100M VMT (vehicle miles traveled), which takes into account distances traveled relative to crashes. San Juan Couny has a rate of 8.3 alcohol-involved crashes per 100M VMT, compared to New Mexico's rate pf 7.7.

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