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Orange County Dangerous Intersections and Accident Statistics
Bisnar Chase has compiled and sorted through a huge amount of data from the SWITRS (State-Wide Integrated Traffic Reports System), which is an online database of traffic incidents that take place in California. We aim to display key data about the most dangerous intersections and streets in Orange County to provide an awareness of specific dangers to motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists within Orange County.
The first set of statistics listed below refer to the intersections and streets in Orange County with the most auto accidents from 2015-2019. All intersection data refers to accidents resulting in injury or fatality, occuring within 200 feet of the listed cross streets. Data for the OC streets with the most accidents includes crashes of all kinds, whether or not they resulted in injury.
Orange County Intersection Statistics: 2015-2019
Orange County Intersections with the Most Accidents
| # | Intersection | Accidents | Injuries | Deaths | City |
| 1 | Harbor Blvd & Orangethorpe Ave | 60 | 82 | 1 | Fullerton |
| 2 | Edinger Ave & Beach Blvd | 55 | 89 | 0 | Huntington Beach |
| 3 | Harbor Blvd & La Palma Ave | 55 | 79 | 0 | Anaheim |
| 4 | Ball Rd & Beach Blvd | 53 | 84 | 1 | Anaheim |
| 5 | 4th St & I-5 Santa Ana Fwy | 52 | 77 | 1 | Santa Ana |
| 6 | Ball Rd & Brookhurst St | 51 | 81 | 1 | Anaheim |
| 7 | Chapman Ave & Harbor Blvd | 50 | 71 | 0 | Fullerton |
| 8 | Beach Blvd & Talbert Ave | 47 | 66 | 1 | Huntington Beach |
| 9 | Newport Blvd & Del Mar Ave | 46 | 75 | 0 | Costa Mesa |
| 10 | Brookhurst St & La Palma Ave | 45 | 68 | 1 | Anaheim |
Orange County Intersections with the Most Injuries
| # | Intersection | Accidents | Injuries | Deaths | City |
| 1 | Edinger Ave & Beach Blvd | 55 | 89 | 0 | Huntington Beach |
| 2 | Ball Rd & Knott Ave | 42 | 84 | 0 | Anaheim |
| 3 | Ball Rd & Beach Blvd | 53 | 84 | 1 | Anaheim |
| 4 | Lincoln Ave & Magnolia Ave | 43 | 83 | 0 | Anaheim |
| 5 | Harbor Blvd & Orangethorpe Ave | 60 | 82 | 1 | Fullerton |
| 6 | Ball Rd & Brookhurst St | 51 | 81 | 1 | Anaheim |
| 7 | Harbor Blvd & La Palma Ave | 55 | 79 | 0 | Anaheim |
| 8 | 4th St & I-5 Santa Ana Fwy | 52 | 77 | 1 | Santa Ana |
| 9 | Newport Blvd & Del Mar Ave | 46 | 75 | 0 | Costa Mesa |
| 10 | I-405 & Seal Beach Blvd | 43 | 73 | 7 | Seal Beach |
Orange County Intersections with the Most Deaths
| # | Intersection | Accidents | Injuries | Deaths | City |
| 1 | SR 91 & Imperial Highway | 42 | 65 | 8 | Anaheim |
| 2 | I-405 & Seal Beach Blvd | 43 | 73 | 7 | Seal Beach |
| 3 | Beach Blvd & Katella Ave | 31 | 34 | 4 | Stanton |
| 4 | RT 57 & Chapman Ave | 23 | 31 | 4 | Fullerton |
| 5 | RT 57 & SR 91 | 42 | 65 | 4 | Anaheim |
| 6 | I-405 & Fairview Rd | 49 | 72 | 4 | Costa Mesa |
| 7 | I-405 & SR 22 | 16 | 18 | 4 | Garden Grove |
| 8 | RT 57 & Yorba Linda Blvd | 34 | 47 | 4 | Fullerton |
| 9 | 4th St & Tustin Ave | 21 | 29 | 4 | Santa Ana |
| 10 | SR 55 & Warner Ave | 35 | 45 | 4 | Santa Ana |
Orange County Streets With The Most Accidents
| # | Street | Accidents |
| 1 | Harbor Blvd | 5663 |
| 2 | Euclid Street | 4335 |
| 3 | Chapman Avenue | 4184 |
| 4 | Beach Blvd | 3752 |
| 5 | Brookhurst Street | 3421 |
| 6 | Katella Avenue | 3028 |
| 7 | Main Street | 3021 |
| 8 | Lincoln Avenue | 2993 |
| 9 | Ball Road | 2269 |
| 10 | Imperial Highway | 2247 |
| 11 | Jamboree Road | 2180 |
| 12 | Bristol Street | 2020 |
| 13 | La Palma Avenue | 1847 |
| 14 | Magnolia Street | 1763 |
| 15 | Warner Avenue | 1365 |
| 16 | Edinger Avenue | 1346 |
Insights from Intersection Accident Data
Traffic volume and speed is key
We can take plenty of insights from the Orange County street and intersection accident statistics collected above. Some of the details revealed might be expected, while others are surprising.
We can see that the top-10 intersections with the most accidents are located across five different cities: Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, and Costa Mesa. These cities are among the top-8 cities in Orange County in terms of population. It stands to reason that busier areas with greater traffic volumes would have more accidents.
For example, the intersection of Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard, in Huntington Beach, is joint second in terms of accident numbers and top of the table of most injuries. This area sees a huge volume of traffic, sitting next to a major shopping area, as well as the on/off ramps of the I-405 freeway at its main entrance to the city. It is no wonder that such intersections become accident black spots.
In terms of fatal collisions, our statistics show that many occur on or near freeways. Crashes are common at freeway entrances and exits, due to the high speeds of vehicles, as well as drivers attempting to merge across lanes or enter traffic. When crashes occur at high speeds, fatalities are far more common.
Our analysis of the streets with the most total accident numbers also reveals a numerical correlation. Streets such as Harbor Boulevard and Beach Boulevard feature prominently on this list, and these are major roads spanning dozens of miles through the heart of Orange County. It is natural that these longer roads will be hit by higher accident counts.
Many roads across the U.S. are built in straight lines, in gridded formats. This is the case in most areas of Orange County too, and most accident hotspots occur in these gridded areas. It is interesting to note that some of the newer areas of Irvine were built with deliberately curved streets to naturally slow traffic and prevent accidents. While Irvine has the third highest population in Orange County, it does not appear on any of the lists above.
Orange County City Data
Cities with the Most Accidents Per 1,000 People
This table provides a reference for how likely residents are to get into a car accident in certain cities. We calculate this by showing the accident rate per 1,000 people in the city’s population, rather than by total number of accidents.
Under this method, Seal Beach is at the top of the list with an accident rate almost 9x that of Aliso Viejo. Why do we rank cities by accidents/1,000 people?
| Rank | City | Accidents | Population | Accidents / 1,000 People |
| Most Accidents Per 1,000 People | ||||
| 1 | Seal Beach | 1057 | 24204 | 43.7 |
| 2 | Los Alamitos | 460 | 11534 | 39.9 |
| 3 | Fountain Valley | 1962 | 56026 | 35 |
| 4 | Westminster | 2922 | 91137 | 32.1 |
| 5 | Orange | 4351 | 139887 | 31.1 |
| Fewest Accidents Per 1,000 People | ||||
| 30 | Laguna Woods | 112 | 16053 | 6.9 |
| 31 | Yorba Linda | 383 | 67725 | 5.7 |
| 32 | Rancho Santa Margarita | 269 | 48503 | 5.5 |
| 33 | Villa Park | 30 | 5861 | 5.1 |
| 34 | Aliso Viejo | 253 | 50663 | 4.9 |
Accident Breakdown
Pedestrian Accidents By City
With a relatively small population and a high amount of tourist foot traffic, it is no surprise that Laguna Beach tops the list of cities with the most pedestrian accidents with a significantly higher rate than other areas in the top 5.
The safest cities for pedestrians include Villa Park, Yorba Linda, Cypress, and Aliso Viejo. These are all areas on the lower end of the population scale, leading to a lower rate of traffic and foot traffic than many other Orange County cities.
Motorcycle Accidents By City
There are no major correlations with the cities reporting the most motorcycle accidents by population, but Seal Beach takes the top spot by a considerable margin, with a high number of motorcycle accidents every year.
Once again, the lower population areas dominate the safer city rankings when it comes to motorcycle accidents. The bottom 5 locations have very low adjusted and actual accident numbers.
Bicycle Accidents By City
The cities presenting the highest dangers to cyclists are Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. This is unsurprising, as the two cities are cycling hotspots in Orange County. A huge number of people ride their bikes around the beachfront areas.
Newport Beach has particularly high bicycle accident numbers. In Newport, cyclists can move from the beachfront promenade to high-traffic areas very quickly, leading to more accidents and several fatalities.
Truck Accidents By City
In general, a higher daily average of truck traffic through a city correlates with a higher occurrence of truck accidents. Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine have the highest accident numbers, but the much smaller city of Brea has a greater population adjusted rate.
Larger cities have a massive number of trucks driving in or passing through every day. The smaller cities, with far fewer deliveries and truck traffic, are shown to have drastically lower crash numbers year on year.
Accidents By Year
Over the following section we will examine data from all Orange County cities, sorted by year, and using a six-year sample period spanning 2014-2019. The data will cover car accidents resulting in injuries and fatalities only.
Over this period, accident numbers have risen and fallen in waves. The number of auto accidents in Orange County peaked in 2016. In fact, the number of accidents dropped by 14.3% between 2016 and 2018. But there are always outliers, and some of the cities with rising numbers between 2014 and 2019 are shown in the graph below.
The numbers recorded here for 2019 are the lowest to date by some distance. However, it should be noted that as the latest data available, this trend could be a result of incomplete records for 2019.
| City | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| Aliso Viejo | 57 | 52 | 54 | 46 | 51 | 50 |
| Anaheim | 2118 | 2406 | 2423 | 2344 | 2063 | 2345 |
| Brea | 249 | 288 | 313 | 276 | 292 | 243 |
| Buena Park | 416 | 365 | 484 | 497 | 480 | 390 |
| Costa Mesa | 604 | 802 | 833 | 740 | 813 | 661 |
| Cypress | 302 | 211 | 193 | 187 | 166 | 172 |
| Dana Point | 156 | 142 | 113 | 119 | 111 | 78 |
| Fountain Valley | 350 | 374 | 407 | 357 | 413 | 411 |
| Fullerton | 781 | 794 | 942 | 885 | 792 | 676 |
| Garden Grove | 730 | 737 | 753 | 781 | 698 | 739 |
| Huntington Beach | 967 | 966 | 961 | 974 | 955 | 770 |
| Irvine | 931 | 962 | 1171 | 1071 | 1045 | 884 |
| La Habra | 262 | 298 | 315 | 271 | 255 | 227 |
| La Palma | 24 | 71 | 72 | 96 | 83 | 65 |
| Lake Forest | 183 | 217 | 237 | 213 | 194 | 191 |
| Laguna Beach | 147 | 121 | 139 | 102 | 135 | 99 |
| Laguna Hills | 161 | 171 | 181 | 181 | 184 | 169 |
| Laguna Niguel | 114 | 161 | 137 | 154 | 162 | 126 |
| Laguna Woods | 13 | 22 | 24 | 16 | 21 | 29 |
| Los Alamitos | 85 | 94 | 111 | 101 | 85 | 69 |
| Mission Viejo | 282 | 295 | 329 | 307 | 359 | 342 |
| Newport Beach | 466 | 449 | 456 | 453 | 430 | 407 |
| Orange | 874 | 913 | 938 | 893 | 859 | 748 |
| Placentia | 133 | 169 | 160 | 169 | 92 | 25 |
| Rancho Santa Margarita | 80 | 50 | 63 | 56 | 51 | 49 |
| San Clemente | 261 | 256 | 255 | 206 | 178 | 153 |
| San Juan Capistrano | 162 | 211 | 171 | 133 | 131 | 123 |
| Santa Ana | 1679 | 1743 | 2055 | 1976 | 1022 | 403 |
| Seal Beach | 208 | 207 | 249 | 246 | 195 | 160 |
| Stanton | 88 | 106 | 98 | 94 | 101 | 85 |
| Tustin | 403 | 410 | 480 | 460 | 499 | 465 |
| Villa Park | 9 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Westminster | 495 | 568 | 609 | 651 | 553 | 541 |
| Yorba Linda | 65 | 60 | 98 | 71 | 95 | 59 |
Type of Accident by Year
| Year | Pedestrian | Bicycle | Motorcycle | Truck |
| 2014 | 811 | 1177 | 1030 | 379 |
| 2015 | 846 | 1039 | 1181 | 412 |
| 2016 | 892 | 998 | 1181 | 398 |
| 2017 | 892 | 998 | 1138 | 400 |
| 2018 | 817 | 817 | 1035 | 382 |
| 2019 | 693 | 712 | 819 | 352 |
| Total | 4951 | 5741 | 6384 | 2323 |
DUIs by Year
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol will greatly increase the chances of a crash occurring, due to the driver’s compromised reflexes and decision making.
The number of DUI accidents resulting in injuries or fatalities in Orange County peaked in 2016. However, it should be noted that 2016 was a statistical outlier, with a much higher number of total accidents than normal in OC.
In general, the number of DUI accidents has been on the decline since 2016. But the percentage of overall accidents caused by DUI has held steady in the 9-10% range, pointing to little improvement in awareness of the consequences of driving under the influence.
| Year | DUIs | Total Accidents | % of Accidents |
| 2014 | 1360 | 13901 | 9.8% |
| 2015 | 1374 | 14899 | 9.2% |
| 2016 | 1418 | 16054 | 8.8% |
| 2017 | 1349 | 15370 | 8.7% |
| 2018 | 1250 | 13968 | 8.9% |
| 2019 | 1185 | 12325 | 9.6% |
| Total | 7936 | 86517 | 9.2% |
DUI vs Non-DUI Deaths 2014-2019
| Accidents | Deaths | Deaths/Accident Rate | |
| Non-DUI | 86517 | 753 | 0.87% |
| DUI | 7936 | 405 | 5.10% |
Non-DUI Accidents
One Death in Every
114.9
Accidents
DUI Accidents
One Death in Every
19.6
Accidents
According to the Orange County DUI accident data collected here, a fatality will occur in more than 5% of DUI crashes (compared to less than 1% in which drugs or alcohol are not a factor). The chances of a fatality occurring in a car accident increase by an enormous 486% when at least one of the drivers is operating their vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
DUIs by Time Period
Conclusion
This data is provided as a service to Orange County drivers to show some of driving dangers in different cities. The data shows that in general, car accidents are less frequent as you go south through Orange County, due to the higher population density in the northern area. It also shows that DUIs make up about 10% of all car accidents and though they have been declining in the past 6 years, DUIs are responsible for almost as many deaths as regular car accidents, while happening 90% less frequently. Seal Beach, Brea, and Laguna Beach have shown to be cities with higher instances of accidents, especially those accidents involving motorcycles and trucks.
If you would like to see more information about Orange County accidents and the circumstances surrounding them, please contact Bisnar Chase here and request the specific information you require. We can also send you our spreadsheets that we used to compile this data so you can do your own analysis of the traffic incidents from the past 6 years. We welcome any comments or recommendations to improve this data so that we can benefit the community around us.
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