montgomery county today
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Vehicle Crashes
Vehicle crashes continue to be a serious safety issue in
Montgomery County. In 2011, there were 8,416 crashes
in the county, 42 of which were fatal. Most of these
crashes were concentrated along major highways in the
county, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the
Schuylkill Expressway. This figure is up 2% from the
8,235 crashes in the county in 2010. However, on a
regional level, accident fatalities continue to decline since
a peak of 489 deaths in 2007.
There are several factors that contributed to these
fatalities. Aggressive driving contributed to 25 of the 45
fatalities—more than half—and is a behavior that is
completely preventable. Other factors that come into
play include impaired and distracted driving, seat belt
usage, pedestrian safety, vehicles leaving the roadway,
and poor intersection design. That being said, increasing
seat belt usage, making streets safer to cross, eliminating
view obstructions and eliminating potential distractions
like text messaging could go a long way toward reducing
the county’s crash rates even further.
In 2011, 30 of the county’s 62 municipalities had 100
crashes or more. Lower Merion Township had the
greatest number of crashes by far, totaling 802, likely
because of the Schuylkill Expressway which winds its
way through the township. Other municipalities with
large numbers of crashes include Upper Merion,
Abington, Upper Moreland, and Upper Dublin
Townships, as well as the Municipality of Norristown.
FIGURE 58:
Vehicle Accident Locations
COUNTY
CRASHES THAT CAUSED
PEOPLE WHO WERE
INJURY
FATALITY
PROPERTY
DAMAGE
INJURED
KILLED
Bucks
3,082
52
3,151
4,324
54
Chester
1,834
31
2,606
2,452
34
Delaware
2,325
21
2,060
3,292
21
Montgomery
4,082
37
4,137
5,638
40
Philadelphia
8,235
85
2,259
11,881
93
FIGURE 59:
Average Crashes per Year in the Greater Philadelphia Area: 2008-2010
Source: Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Source: Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
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¯
Pottstown
Norristown
Lansdale
Collegeville
Jenkintown
Conshohocken
476
276
76
476
t
u
422
t
u
202
611
100
309
Hatboro
Ambler
Pennsburg
73
663
29
29
73
Fewer Crashes
Most Crashes
Fatal Crashes
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