Traffic Accidents in Jacksonville, IL (2017-2022)

Does a statistically significant relationship exist between stop signs and vehicle accidents?

Background:

Growing up, Rachel and I (Grace) have seen and heard about several traffic accidents that have happened throughout the 18 years we have been alive. Fortunately for us, we have never been in serious car accidents, only small fender benders. Traffic accidents have caused a lot of devastating tragedies and losses for many people around the world. We were inspired to do this project because of two separate car accidents that happened recently to students that go to school in Jacksonville, IL. One of the accidents was at a two-way intersection and the student survived with only a couple minor injuries. The other student was also at a two-way intersection, but unfortunately the accident was fatal. Rachel and I want to raise awareness of traffic accidents that occur locally and in other cities in Illinois. Analyzing the data and finding dangerous intersections, may help decrease the annual amount of accidents so fewer families have to experience the loss and tragedy that follows.

Conclusion

As we finished our data collecting, map making, and finding relationships between intersections, we discovered that there is an association between two-way and four-way stop-sign intersections and the number of accidents occurring at them. We also discovered that the one-way intersection is significant because a lot of accidents occurred there in the six-year time frame. This could be because there are few amount of signs explaining that the intersection is a one-way road and people who have never visited Jacksonville before might go the other way which would cause an accident. After many meetings, the municipality of Jacksonville has recently decided to make the two-way intersection at W College Ave./ Park St., a four-way intersection. It will take time for people to get used to a four-way intersection, but to prevent accidents from happening, they are placing flashing stop-lights at the intersection to alert the drivers’ of a stop sign. This solution will prevent accidents from occurring so fewer families will have to experience the loss and tragedies of losing someone or something. Overall, we hope that this project is able to raise awareness not only for our town, but for other cities in Illinois to make their intersections safer. 

The link below is the article that explains Jacksonville's decision to transform the two-way intersection into a four-way intersection at W College Ave./ Park St:

Questions:

We recommend for the future that the JPD shows age, gender, and cause of accident in the accident reports that we received. This would have allowed us to do further research and find a better solution on how to prevent traffic accidents and make intersections safer. We also thought including more traffic warning signs could also prevent accidents from occurring especially at the Central Park Plz. intersections. Those intersections have a few signs indicating that it is a one-way street.

Credits

Chief of Police Jacksonville Police Department: Adam Mefford

Jacksonville Mayor: Andy Ezard

Illinois Department of Transportation: Katherine A. Beckett-Suter