51 TRAFFIC DEATHS IN YEAR SET DECADE RECORD HIGH.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

Traffic fatalities in Ventura County rose to a 10-year high in 2000, jumping 46 percent over the previous year, authorities said Tuesday.

Along the highways and unincorporated areas of the county, California Highway Patrol officials reported 51 traffic-related deaths, compared with 34 in 1999, officials said.

``We're very high this year,'' said CHP Officer Dave Webb, who has served at the local station for the past 15 years. ``That's the highest number I can recall in the past 10 years.''

While CHP officials say the rise is significant - and alarming - there was no single cause for the increase.

``We've tried to focalize where the majority was and what we could do to prevent them and we found that there was not a particular place or reason,'' Webb said. ``There was nothing that we could put a finger on.

``Most of them are due to errant drivers,'' Webb added. ``A lot of them was because of speed.''

In Oxnard, fatalities jumped from eight in 1999 to 11 last year; Ventura went from five in 1999 to six; and Camarillo reported two in both 1999 and 2000.

While Thousand Oaks officials also saw a tripling in the number of fatalities - from two to six, officials said that the local numbers are still lower than other communities their size.

``The honest truth is that we're lucky,'' said Senior Deputy Rick Godfrey. ``We are below what we should be at.''

Godfrey recalled one year when Thousand Oaks recorded 12 traffic- related deaths.

``The numbers have been coming down since the 1960s,'' Godfrey said. ``Cars are getting safer, the streets are getting safer . . . and safety is improving.''

Simi Valley reported seven fatalities in 2000, compared with four the previous year.