Cops List Dangerous Cda Streets Appleway Is Worst For Accidents In The City, Police Survey Shows
Through the windows of her business, Brenda Hochhalter can watch the parade of accidents along Appleway.
“There sure are a lot of fender benders,” Hochhalter said as a knot of cars and trucks whisked by her business, 3-D Office Systems.
It’s no surprise to her that the stretch of Appleway in front of her shop has the highest number of accidents in the city. “They’re all over from Government Way to Highway 95,” she said.
On Wednesday, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department released the results of a fourmonth study of the Lake City’s traffic accident problems.
From 1991 to 1993 there were 2,505 collisions reported to police. Someone was either injured or killed in 30 percent of them, according to the study.
The report also named the most dangerous intersections in the Lake City. In order of severity, they are:
Appleway and Government Way - 83 accidents.
U.S. Highway 95 and Appleway - 76 accidents
Highway 95 and Ironwood Drive - 53 accidents
Fourth Street and Best Avenue - 39 accidents
Northwest Boulevard and Ironwood Drive - 31 accidents
The study was done as part of the police department’s new CARE program Community Accident Reduction Through Education.
The program is designed to reduce Coeur d’Alene’s accidents by 10 percent in three years - not with overzealous ticket writing, but through community education, said Lt. Ron Hotchkiss.
Four officers are responsible for the four quadrants of the city. Hotchkiss said the study will help them identify the areas they need to concentrate on.
One of the most serious problems the CARE team’s report identified was Appleway between Highway 95 and Fourth Street.
“Almost everyone who drives goes up there at one time or another,” Lt. Hotchkiss said.
A large number of the accidents in that area were caused by vehicles making left turns out of commercial driveways, trying to cross two or more lanes of traffic.
“You just sit and wait for an opening and sometimes you have to sit a long time,” said Brenda Hochhalter, who must often travel that stretch of pavement for her business. “I see people take incredible risks. They head out in an opening that I wouldn’t consider large enough.”
Hochhalter’s husband’s van was struck by a driver trying to make a left turn out of the 3-D Office System’s parking lot. “They wait and wait and wait and sooner or later they’re going to go shooting out there,” said Daryl Hochhalter.
Following too close, inattentiveness and driving too fast also contributed to the accidents at the top five intersection areas, according to the report.
The majority of drivers in the city’s accidents were between the ages of 22 and 30. And 71 percent of the drivers were from Kootenai County.
Hotchkiss said the officers will be working with business owners, the city’s engineering department and the citizens to reduce accidents in these areas.
Although the CARE team still has not received its police cars, they will begin patrolling Monday, Hotchkiss said. The officers will rotate between two cars from the regular patrol division.
xxxx “Traffic Study.”