I'm performing some basic spatial analyses on a large database of traffic injuries in California between 2003 - 2011. Because the dataset is large (nearly 1 GB of points), I'd like to first cut it down to a specific geographic region using a spatial query, but I find that QGIS consistently freezes and hangs if I try to use a spatial query or filter the layer.

What are some ways I can work with this dataset? Are there more efficient data formats I can use?