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Orange County Dangerous Intersections and Accident Statistics

Bisnar Chase has compiled and sorted through a vast 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 critical data about the most dangerous intersections and streets in Orange County to raise awareness of specific dangers to motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists within Orange County.

The first set of statistics listed below refers to the intersections and streets in Orange County with the most auto accidents from 2015 to 2020. All intersection data refers to accidents resulting in injury or fatality 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.  Related: Common Causes of Los Angeles Car Accidents

Orange County Intersection Statistics: 2015-2023

Orange County Intersections with the Most Accidents

#IntersectionAccidentsInjuriesDeathsCity
1Harbor Blvd & Orangethorpe Ave60821Fullerton
2Edinger Ave & Beach Blvd55890Huntington Beach
3Harbor Blvd & La Palma Ave55790Anaheim
4Ball Rd & Beach Blvd53841Anaheim
54th St & I-5 Santa Ana Fwy52771Santa Ana
6Ball Rd & Brookhurst St51811Anaheim
7Chapman Ave & Harbor Blvd50710Fullerton
8Beach Blvd & Talbert Ave47661Huntington Beach
9Newport Blvd & Del Mar Ave46750Costa Mesa
10Brookhurst St & La Palma Ave45681Anaheim
Most Accidents Map

Orange County Intersections with the Most Injuries

#IntersectionAccidentsInjuriesDeathsCity
1Edinger Ave & Beach Blvd55890Huntington Beach
2Ball Rd & Knott Ave42840Anaheim
3Ball Rd & Beach Blvd53841Anaheim
4Lincoln Ave & Magnolia Ave43830Anaheim
5Harbor Blvd & Orangethorpe Ave60821Fullerton
6Ball Rd & Brookhurst St51811Anaheim
7Harbor Blvd & La Palma Ave55790Anaheim
84th St & I-5 Santa Ana Fwy52771Santa Ana
9Newport Blvd & Del Mar Ave46750Costa Mesa
10I-405 & Seal Beach Blvd43737Seal Beach

 

Most Injuries Map

Orange County Intersections with the Most Deaths

#IntersectionAccidentsInjuriesDeathsCity
1SR 91 & Imperial Highway42658Anaheim
2I-405 & Seal Beach Blvd43737Seal Beach
3Beach Blvd & Katella Ave31344Stanton
4RT 57 & Chapman Ave23314Fullerton
5RT 57 & SR 9142654Anaheim
6I-405 & Fairview Rd49724Costa Mesa
7I-405 & SR 2216184Garden Grove
8RT 57 & Yorba Linda Blvd34474Fullerton
94th St & Tustin Ave21294Santa Ana
10SR 55 & Warner Ave35454Santa Ana
Most Deaths Map

Orange County Streets With The Most Accidents

#StreetAccidents
1Harbor Blvd5663
2Euclid Street4335
3Chapman Avenue4184
4Beach Blvd3752
5Brookhurst Street3421
6Katella Avenue3028
7Main Street3021
8Lincoln Avenue2993
9Ball Road2269
10Imperial Highway2247
11Jamboree Road2180
12Bristol Street2020
13La Palma Avenue1847
14Magnolia Street1763
15Warner Avenue1365
16Edinger Avenue1346
Most Deaths Map

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 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 and 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.

Our statistics show that fatal collisions 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 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. Naturally, higher accident counts will hit these longer roads.

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.

What are the most common causes of intersection accidents in California?

  • Rush-hour traffic: Most accidents occur when individuals travel to and from work or school at their busiest.
  • Speeding: In Orange County, speeding is a major factor in auto accidents and raises the risk of rear-end collisions.
  • Distracted driving: On surface streets, accidents frequently result from failing to yield, inappropriate turning, dangerous beginning, and failure to observe traffic signs and signals.
  • Driving while intoxicated or drugged: Drunk driving is crucial to intersection accidents.

You can find more about these crash statistics here.

California Crash Fatalities and Injuries as of June 2023

TIMS is a web-based application developed by SafeTREC to provide quick, easy, and free access to California crash data. The data is from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), a database of all motor vehicle crashes in California.

County20182019202020212022Average
Statewide195,449190,649147,148162,092159,623170,992.20
Fatalities and injuries in California updated 2023

Weekly Crashes in California as of Aug. 2023

California DUI Crash Trends, 1997-2022

DUI arrests have declined in some cities in California but have increased in others. For example, Anaheim’s DUI arrests ticked from 555 in 2014 to 563 in 2015.

Orange County ranked 49th out of 58 cities and counties in the state for total fatal and injury crashes. The county also ranked 54th for alcohol-related crashes, 29th for motorcycle crashes, 56th for pedestrian crashes, and 30th for bicycle crashes.

2015–2022 Motorcycle Accidents in Orange County

Orange County City Data

Cities with the Most Accidents Per 1,000 People

This table references 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 a 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?

The city with the most accidents in Orange County is Anaheim, with 11,580 accidents from 2015-2019. That is to be expected, as Anaheim also has the highest population of any OC city, with 349,964 residents.

We work out how many accidents occur per 1,000 people because this produces statistics that are not purely dominated by volume, and give us a clearer understanding of how likely car accidents are in certain areas.

RankCityAccidentsPopulationAccidents / 1,000 People
Most Accidents Per 1,000 People
1Seal Beach10572420443.7
2Los Alamitos4601153439.9
3Fountain Valley19625602635
4Westminster29229113732.1
5Orange435113988731.1
Fewest Accidents Per 1,000 People
30Laguna Woods112160536.9
31Yorba Linda383677255.7
32Rancho Santa Margarita269485035.5
33Villa Park3058615.1
34Aliso Viejo253506634.9

Conclusion

This data is provided as a service to Orange County road users to show some of the driving dangers across California. The statistics show a huge range of road risks that can vary by city, population size and density, hours of the day, and more.

We also break down specific streets and intersections with in-depth accident figures, DUI figures, and much more. It shows that DUIs make up a small percentage of the total accident numbers, and are in a slight general decline, but are responsible for almost as many deaths as car accidents not involving alcohol or drugs.

It is not a shock that the longer roads see more accidents or that a large percentage of fatalities occur near freeway ramps, due to the greater speeds causing collisions of higher impact. But some of the most dangerous intersections in Orange County might come as a surprise. In some cases, these dangerous intersections might simply feature a higher traffic volume, causing more accidents. Others may have confusing layouts or a lack of visibility.

There are a lot of cars on the road in Orange County and across Southern California, and accidents are common. If you have been involved in a collision and need legal help, contact the top-rated Orange County car accident lawyers of Bisnar Chase. Call (800) 561-4887 or email us now.

Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys, LLP

1301 Dove St. STE 120, Newport Beach, CA 92660

(800) 561-4887