A recent car accident in front of the Public Safety Building got a lot of attention and speculation about how to make the intersection safer, but it’s not indicative of a growing number of accidents at that location, police say.
The number of accidents at various sites in town in 2016–2021, according to MassDOT data (click to enlarge).
The two-car crash on March 28 sent three people to the hospital after a driver traveling west on Codman Road ran the stop sign without slowing down and hit a car traveling north on Lincoln Road. The intersection has stop signs for drivers entering the intersection from Codman Road in either direction but not for those on Lincoln Road.
After a spate of accidents in 2017, warming flags and then solar-powered flashing lights were added to the stop signs to make them more visible. Police Chief Kevin Kennedy said he thinks that’s helped reduce the number of accidents there, and data from the state Department of Transportation shows that the intersection is actually the fourth-most dangerous in town in terms of the number of accidents in recent years.
“Any time there’s an accident like that [in a prominent location] and people are transported to the hospital, it’s significant,” Kennedy said. However, given the data, he said he would not advocate for more controls at the intersection at this point, such as four-way stop signs (which could back up rush-hour traffic to the railroad tracks) or a sign indicating that crossing traffic doesn’t stop.
Of the five most accident-prone intersections in town, the most dangerous one by far is Route 2 at Bedford Road, most likely because of the speeds and the fact that the highway is at the crest of a hill. Number two on the list is Lincoln Road at Rte. 117. Traffic islands were built there in summer 2018, and the number of accidents subsequently went down slightly from nine that year to seven in 2019.
Accidents everywhere in town dropped significantly in 2020 due to fewer cars on the road during the pandemic.
Lincoln car accident data
| Intersection | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Total for 2016-2020 | Total for 2011-2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford Rd. / Rte. 2 | 11 | 4 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 61 | 125 |
| Lincoln Rd. / Rte. 117 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 32 | 76 |
| Rte. 117 / Rte. 126 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 26 | 61 |
| Codman Rd. / Lincoln Rd. | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 50 |
| Five Corners | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 27 |
(Source: MassDOT)
What is the difference between the dark blue circles and the light blue circles?
Dark blue seems to indicate areas with highest # of incidents, exceeding 20.