Orange County Dangerous Intersections and Accident Statistics

We can take plenty of insights from the Orange County street and intersection accident statistics collected above. Some of the details revealed might be expected, while others are surprising. We can see that the top 10 intersections with the most accidents are located across five different cities: Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, and Costa Mesa. These cities are among the top 8 cities in Orange County in population. It stands to reason that busier areas with greater traffic volumes would have more accidents.

For example, the intersection of Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach is joint second in terms of accident numbers and top of the table of most injuries. This area sees a huge volume of traffic, sitting next to a major shopping area and the on/off ramps of the I-405 freeway at its main entrance to the city. It is no wonder that such intersections become accident black spots.

Our statistics show that fatal collisions occur on or near freeways. Crashes are common at freeway entrances and exits, due to the high speeds of vehicles, as well as drivers attempting to merge across lanes or enter traffic. When crashes occur at high speeds, fatalities are far more common. Our analysis of the streets with the most total accident numbers reveals a numerical correlation. 

Streets such as Harbor Boulevard and Beach Boulevard feature prominently on this list, and these are major roads spanning dozens of miles through the heart of Orange County. Naturally, higher accident counts will hit these longer roads.

Many roads across the U.S. are built in straight lines, in gridded formats. This is the case in most areas of Orange County, too, and most accident hotspots occur in these gridded areas. It is interesting to note that some of the newer areas of Irvine were built with deliberately curved streets to naturally slow traffic and prevent accidents. While Irvine has the third highest population in Orange County, it does not appear on any of the lists above.

What are the most common causes of intersection accidents in California?

• Rush-hour traffic: Most accidents occur when individuals travel to and from work or school at their busiest.
• Speeding: In Orange County, speeding is a major factor in auto accidents and raises the risk of rear-end collisions.
• Distracted driving: On surface streets, accidents frequently result from failing to yield, inappropriate turning, dangerous beginnings, and failure to observe traffic signs and signals.
• Driving while intoxicated or drugged: Drunk driving is crucial to intersection accidents.

You can find more about these crash statistics here.