Traffic Crashes

Public Works Traffic Engineering annually reviews crashes in Springfield and uses the crash data to make engineering decisions. We encourage citizens to report all crashes to the Springfield Police Department, including minor ones. This gives engineers a more complete picture.

In 2020, the following crashes were reported:

• 4950 total crashes within City limits on public roads.
• 1503 of those included at least one injury
• 26 crashes lead to at least one fatality
• 66 crashes involved a pedestrian
• 44 crashes involved a bicyclist
• 655 crashes involved a fixed object (utility pole, etc.)

There are many examples of how crash data has helped Public Works identify and address problematic areas. One example is the intersection of Commercial and Division Street which has been improved and has since only seen a fraction of crashes compared to before the improvements were made. The same is true for National & Kingsley and other locations.

Example on the right: Battlefield and National used to experience many rear-end crashes in the right-turn slip lane due to the wide radius. Drivers looking for a gap in oncoming traffic would lose car ahead of them from their peripheral view. Adding striping and rumbles to steepen the merge radius has helped eliminate most of those merge-related crashes.