Chatham-Kent police are once again out with their top intersections for crashes in 2024.
Police said Grand Avenue East and St. Clair Street in Chatham tops the list with 16 collisions last year, followed by Keil Drive and Richmond Street in Chatham with 11.
They also reported McNaughton Avenue East and St Clair Street, Lacroix Street and Richmond Street, and Grand Avenue West and Lacroix Street, all in Chatham, had nine crashes in 2024.
Police also reported the overall number of life-threatening or fatal motor vehicle collisions investigated by the traffic unit last year decreased from 22 to 20, adding the number of fatalities on Chatham-Kent roads was reduced too from 14 to 8.
The eight fatalities included a double fatality with two pedestrians being stuck and killed on the roadway, another collision involved impairment by drugs, and a third resulted from the driver suffering a medical event before the collision occurred.
The twenty fatal and serious motor vehicle collisions included nine collision investigations resulting in charges being laid (five criminal, eight traffic), according to CK police, while two collision investigations are still ongoing and may result in charges.
The Collision Reporting Centre also reported an overall decrease in crashes with the total number of collisions dropping from 2,052 in 2023 to 2,004 in 2024.
Police noted the higher number of collisions generally occurred in January, October, and November and most were reported in October on Fridays and during the mid-afternoon.
Police statistics showed that peak times for alcohol and/or drug related crashes occurred between 6-9 p.m with the highest report times at 1 a.m.
The statistics also showed that most alcohol/drug related collisions involved drivers who had consumed alcohol, but the drivers who had consumed alcohol or were impaired by alcohol decreased from 2023.
Crashes involving drivers impaired by drugs have decreased as well from 2023 by 12 per cent, according to CK police.
Police added that the highest percentage of incident rates occurred with those aged 21-30.
The CK Police Traffic Management Unit and the Ministry of Transportation conducted four vehicle safety blitzes throughout the municipality last year, took 39 commercial motor vehicles out of service, laid 62 charges.