We submitted the following question for Eden Prairie Public Works Director Gene Dietz:“What is the worst corner in Eden Prairie for traffic accidents? Why?”

This is his response:

Industry and emergency responder staff have made a conscious shift away from the term “accidents” to a more appropriate term of “crashes,” since the vast majority of incidents are preventable. The intersection with the highest cumulative number of crashes in the past five years (data available for 2002 through 2006) is Eden Prairie Road at Trunk Highway 5 with a grand total of 100. The statistic that points to preventable – 63 of the crashes resulted from the driver of one car running into the rear end of the car ahead (rear end). The answer of “why” is subjective, but a strong argument for driver inattentiveness can surely be made (only four crashes involved snow or ice conditions). As it happens, we expect that rear-end accidents will increase with the installation of traffic signals and signalized intersections are typically the highest in crashes, but we install them anyway to serve higher good – preventing more serious right-angle accidents that occur when traffic volumes increase, turning movements become difficult and drivers take more risk to enter roadways. For those that like statistics, here are some regarding this intersection: 75 were property damage only, while 25 ranged from certain (4) to possible injury (21); Fortunately none were fatal; 215 drivers were involved, which means that several crashes involved more than two vehicles; only 18 percent of the drivers involved were under 21; 36 percent of the drivers were aged 30 to 44; 86 percent of the accidents occurred Monday through Friday; and the time to pay the closest attention at this intersection is between 3 and 6 p.m. when 21 percent of all the crashes occurred.

 Wondering about a road change? Concerned about a pothole? Have a question about Eden Prairie’s snowplowing? If you’d like to submit a question for Mr. Dietz, please e-mail it to editor@edenprairienews.com.