Traffic Stats: What areas of Colonial Heights experience the most car accidents?

COLONIAL HEIGHTS - When it comes to having a car accident, it's usually a matter of "when," not "if."

The car insurance industry says the average driver files an insurance claim about once every 18 years. Nerdwallet estimated in 2020 that the average Virginian will pay 50% more on insurance each year if they cause an accident.

The typical Colonial Heights household owns two cars and commutes around 23 minutes during the workweek. Southpark Mall also attracts a number of motorists from neighboring areas on a regular basis.

With all of this traffic on local roads, where should you be most careful while driving? The Progress-Index reviewed cluster data from the Virginia Department of Transportation showing areas where accidents are most common.

Deaths due to motor accidents were fairly limited during the time period. The seven recorded vehicle-related fatalities were spread throughout neighborhood streets, I-95 and busier secondary streets without any apparent trend in location. Of those seven deaths, five involved drunk drivers.

But where are accidents happening most often?

Southpark Boulevard, near South Avenue

This might come as no surprise to city residents who frequent the area. The corridor at the southern end of Southpark Boulevard is heavily travelled. It leads drivers from the city's commerce center to or from the interstate.

This stretch has several entrances and exits for shopping centers and businesses. The four land road has a turn lane that often forces drivers to turn through oncoming traffic. At its busiest, the roadway here can have nonstop cars coming in both directions.

Of the high-traffic cluster samples reviewed, this showed the highest overall number of accidents - 144 over the course of the 5 year period. Fifty-three of those crashes resulted in injuries to the drivers.

The roundabout

No story mentioning both traffic and Colonial Heights would be complete without the roundabout on Temple Avenue. Completed in 2017, it could be the most hated structure in the entire city. Residents often say that they think the roundabout is more dangerous than the three-way intersection it replaced because drivers passing through don't understand when to stop, and when to continue driving.

Cluster data only provides numbers back to 2016, one year before the roundabout construction started. In that time the number of accidents has decreased slightly, but not substantially.

In 2016 there were 26 total accidents at the intersection. It then averaged 20 accidents in the following 4 years. However, accidents there are 10% less likely to cause injuries compared to the city-wide average.

In the years since the roundabout was built, the number of accidents causing injuries has dropped to 2.6 per year (down from 9 in 2016).

Though the accidents are less dangerous, the sheer number of collisions still warrants naming the roundabout as a place for drivers to use caution. Since 2016, the area has seen 107 total accidents, 21 of which caused injuries.

Boulevard at Temple Avenue

The section of U.S. Route 1 called Boulevard in Colonial Heights, intersects with Temple Avenue on the eastern side of the city. This is one of two major outlets for drivers using the roundabout to exit or enter I-95. It becomes a congested with drivers returning to their homes from the interstate, or as travelers make stops for gas and food. This stretch of road is one of the busiest in the city (22,000 cars daily - highest non-interstate is 30,000).

This cluster area also includes the areas just north and south of Boulevard's intersection with Temple Ave. Like Southpark Boulevard, drivers here should be wary of cars turning into and out of shopping centers in the area. The intersection itself has also been a hotspot for accidents.

Overall, this section of Boulevard experienced 88 total accidents across the five years. Twenty six of those accidents resulted in injuries.

I-95 in southern Colonial Heights

Interstate highways generally produce a higher number of traffic accidents because of the high volume of cars travelling them each day. Though I-95 experiences this increased traffic, cluster data shows that these accidents are heaviest on the roadway near the Southpark Boulevard overpass down to the city's boarder with Petersburg.

This stretch of roadway experienced 84 total accidents from 2016 through 2020 with 28 crashes causing injuries. One in three accidents in this area led to injuries for people involved.

You can reach Sean Jones at sjones@progress-index.com. Follow him at @SeanJones_PI. Follow The Progress-Index on Twitter at @ProgressIndex.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: VDOT Data: These areas in Colonial Heights see the most car accidents