The City of Midland's Traffic Division presented its 2013 Traffic Accident Report at Tuesday's City Council meeting. The findings are based on the calendar year and are compiled annually by the division through traffic flow analyzers and police reports. City officials saw the following trends:
- The total number of accidents in the City of Midland decreased 5.5 percent from 3,723 in 2012 to 3,520 in 2013.
- Seven or more accidents happened at 16 intersections in 2013, down from 29 intersections in 2012.
- Both the number of fatalities and injuries due to accidents increased from 2012 to 2013, with an increase from 16 to 20 fatalities and an increase from 1,110 to 1,120 injuries, respectively.
- The intersection with the highest amount of accidents was at Briarwood Avenue and Midland Drive, with 18 accidents in 2013. This intersection is also the only one within the city that had more than two crashes per 1 million vehicles entering that intersection. The highest rate per million entering vehicles in 2012 was 3.7 at the intersection of A Street and the Loop 250 North service road, indicating there were 3.7 accidents per one million cars that entered that intersection.
- Traffic volume counts taken in 2013 indicate a 2.35 percent average increase in traffic volume throughout the City of Midland compared to the 2012 counts. In the previous year, engineers saw a 10.07 percent increase in overall traffic from 2011. This difference appears to indicate a stabilizing in the influx of traffic in Midland.
City officials will continue to study and monitor all intersections listed in the 2013 Annual Traffic Accident Report and implement any changes or additions to existing traffic control devices or intersection geometrics as necessary.
2013 Traffic Accident Report Abbreviations Key:
| MEV | Crashes per "Million Entering Vehicles" |
| R/A | Right angle, i.e. "T-bone" |
| L/T | Left turn |
| H/O | Head-on |
| R/E | Rear-end |
| PED | Pedestrian |
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Media Contact: Public Information Officer Sara Higgins