Study: Vehicle crashes drop near intersection

Police chief also says statistics from past 6 years show that this section of community isn't a hotbed for collisions

A recently released annual report has refuted social-media claims that traffic crashes happen every day in the area of Route 20 and Green Road in Madison Township. In fact, an analysis conducted by township Police Chief Matthew Byers showed that crashes occurring last year in this particular stretch fell to a sixyear low.

Since 2017, Byers has compiled yearly reports detailing how many traffic crashes that Madison Township police responded to in an area consisting of:

• The Route 20 and Green intersection

• Green Road, at the entrance to the Walmart Supercenter

• On Green Road, in the vicinity of Walmart and Mary’s Diner

In 2022, that entire territory accounted for a total 13 crashes, according to Byers’ report. That figure is down from 20 crashes in 2021.

The 13 crashes last year also are the lowest annual count for the area of Route 20 and Green Road dating back to 2017, when Byers began tracking the number of collisions in this section of the community.

Byers said he decided to launch this annual project because of recurring complaints on social media about “the horrendous amount of traffic crashes at Green and 20, and claims that there are traffic crashes there every day, etc.”

When it came to the 13 crashes during 2022, four took place at the Walmart entrance on Green Road; three happened on Green in the vicinity of Walmart and Mary’s Diner; and six occurred at the Route 20 and Green Road intersection.

Over the past six years, the worst year for total crashes in the area of Green Road and Route 20 was 2018, with 27 collisions, according to statistics from the Jan. 11, 2022, meeting minutes of township trustees.

Total crashes dropped to 13 in 2022, even though two new businesses have been established in recent years near Walmart on Green Road. Mary’s Diner opened in 2019, and Classic Clean Auto Wash began operating in June of 2022.

“Even with the increase of those businesses, traffic crashes have actually gone down,” Byers said. “So the number of crashes that the public perceives happen at Route 20 and Green, or on Green in the area of Walmart, are just not a reality.”

To show how crashes on the portion of Route 20 and Green Road in Byers’ study fits into the bigger picture, Madison Township Police Department handled 217 vehicle crashes in the entire community last year.

While this region of Route 20 and Green has its share of near misses involving vehicles that don’t result in crashes, Byers said his annual report focuses crashes in which police were called and vehicle damages and/or injuries were documented.

“So even though Route 20 and Green does have that appearance of being a dangerous area, these actual numbers just don’t bear that out,” he said.

BILL DEBUS - THE NEWS-HERALD A car turns from Green Road in Madison Township to enter the driveway to Walmart Supercenter on the morning of March 6. Madison Township Police Chief Matthew Byers recently issued his 2022report on the number of crashes in the area of Route 20 and Green Road. There were 4 crashes on Green at the Walmart entrance in both 2022 and 2021. However, the overall number of crashes for the area, when figuring in the Route 20 and Green intersection, and Green Road in the vicinity of Walmart and Mary’s Diner, dropped to 13 in 2022 from 20 in 2021.

BILL DEBUS - THE NEWS-HERALD Vehicle traffic flows near the Route 20 and Green Road intersection in Madison Township on the morning of March 6. In 2022, there were six crashes at the intersection, according to township Police Department statistics. This compares to 10crashes at the intersection that were reported in 2021. Madison Township Police Chief Matthew Byers issues a report every year on the number of crashes not only at the Route 20 and Green intersection, but also on Green at the entrance to Walmart and on Green Road in the vicinity of Walmart and Mary’s Diner.