More traffic accidents in Hall County occur on Mundy Mill Road than any of the county's other streets and roads, and, countywide most wrecks happen weekdays during afternoon rush hour.
Those are among the findings included in a Crash Profile of the county which was complied by the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organizations using information from the Georgia Electronic Accident Reporting System, which was developed by the state Department of Transportation. Data from 2011-2015 was used in the report.
Among the findings:
- There were 5,401 accidents reported in 2011 and 7,248 in 2015.
- Crashes with fatalities declined between 2011 and 2014 from 24 to 16, but doubled to 34 in 2015.
- Mundy Mill Road had the highest number of collisions. In fact, six locations along this road are listed near the top.
- A majority of the wrecks occurred during the afternoon rush hour between 4:00 and 7:00.
- Friday had the highest number of collisions of any day of the week.
- While many collisions had no contributing factors, among the collisions that did have a contributing factor, "following the vehicle in front too closely" was the primary factor, followed by "failing to yield the right-of-way."
- Drivers between 20 and 25 were involved in more crashes than any other age group.
- Male drivers were involved in more crashes than female drivers and experienced fatalities almost twice as often.
- October and November had the highest number of collisions. This happens to be the period when daylight savings time ends but, the report states, "We cannot tell from this data, however, whether the reduction in daylight is the contributing factor why the number of collisions went up during this period."
The study also found that while most traffic volumes in Hall County were on higher classes of roads such as freeways and arterials, most of the collisions occurred on local roads and "collectors." "This could be because there are more local roads and collector streets than freeways and arterials," according to the report. "In addition, the lower classes of roads contain traffic lights, intersections, and stop signs - points where collisions are likely to occur."
Click here for the updated Jackson County crash profile and here to see the full Hall County report.
