Hospital intersection retains rank as Park Ridge’s most dangerous

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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:48AM

The Park Ridge Police Department this week released its annual list of the Top 10 accident-producing intersections in the city, with a busy hospital entrance once again taking the No. 1 spot.

For the second consecutive year the intersection of Dempster Street and Luther Lane, which leads to the campus of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, ranked first among the Police Department’s “Top 10 Crash Intersections” for 2011. According to the report police responded to 30 motor-vehicle accidents at Dempster and Luther last year — three fewer than during 2010, when the intersection was also ranked No. 1 on the Police Department’s crash list.

Dempster and Luther has topped Park Ridge’s crash list before. It ranked first in 2006 and 2008, and took the second spot in 2009.

Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski said a high volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic going to and from the hospital and medical offices contributes to the accident rate.

“It’s the busiest intersection in the city,” he said.

In 2010 a traffic study conducted by the department determined that the intersection handled roughly 48,000 vehicles daily and an estimated 5,000 pedestrians.

Kaminski said steps have been taken in recent years to reduce the number of vehicle crashes at Dempster and Luther. The timing of the traffic signals was adjusted, lanes were re-marked and hospital security guards were posted at the corner to make sure pedestrians were crossing safely, Kaminski said.

“We’ve worked to keep it as safe as possible,” he said.

But drivers and pedestrians, many of them crossing Dempster, where additional parking is available, share much of the responsibility in preventing accidents, the police chief said.

“If people follow the rules it would certainly be a lot safer,” Kaminski said of the intersection.

Ranking second on the Police Department’s 2011 Top 10 Crash list was the highly congested six-corners intersection of Touhy Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Northwest Highway in the heart of Uptown. There were 28 accidents reported at that intersection in 2011, slightly fewer than the 31 crashes reported in 2010.

Dempster Street and Potter Road came in third with 27 accidents, an increase of five from the previous year. Dee and Talcott Roads, an intersection that did not rank among the top accident-producing intersections in 2010 or 2009, took the fourth spot with 26 crashes, followed by Touhy and Greenwood avenues in the fifth position.

Kaminski acknowledged that all of the intersections on the list are high-traffic-volume corners.

Last year there were 1,362 accidents reported to police, an increase of 32 from 2010. Kaminski believes this increase may be linked to the February 2011 snowstorm.

In 2009 there were 1,334 accident reports taken by police.

“Our overall accident rate is fairly even,” Kaminski stated.

The city did see an increase in personal-injury accidents last year, though. A total of 128 personal-injury accidents were reported compared with 96 in 2010, and 98 in 2009.

None of the personal-injury accidents that occurred in 2011 resulted in fatalities, Lt. Duane Mellema said.