Memphis’ deadliest streets and most accident-prone intersections
The Memphis Police Department presented data to the City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 8, detailing where the most car accidents have occurred this year. Memphis Police officers direct traffic around the scene of a fatal car crash near Memphis International Airport in 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
A short Memphis Police Department presentation to City Council members Tuesday showed some of the roads and intersections where the most car accidents have occurred this year.
The data presented by MPD showed that some of the city’s busiest and heaviest-trafficked streets — American Way, Winchester Road, East Parkway and Poplar Avenue — have the most accidents.
Here are the five intersections with the most accidents through Aug. 7, 2023:
- Winchester and Riverdale roads, 101 accidents
- Shelby Drive and Riverdale Road, 82 accidents
- Airways Boulevard and Ketchum Road, 71 accidents
- American Way and Lamar Avenue, 68 accidents
- East Parkway and Poplar Avenue, 68 accidents
MPD Deputy Chief Stephen Chandler noted the intersection of East Parkway and Poplar in particular.
A man who works as a street vendor at the corner was hit by a car this summer, he said, and had since recovered and returned to plying his trade at the intersection.
MPD also provided what streets have had the most fatal accidents:
- Third Street, five fatalities
- Union Avenue, three fatalities
- Interstate 240, three fatalities
- Shelby Drive , two fatalities
- Lamar Avenue, two fatalities
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Memphis City Council MPDSamuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
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