Kent Street in Top 3 for Regional Crash List

AMATS, otherwise known as the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, collected crash statistics from 2010-2012 to identify the most accident-prone streets within highly traveled sections of Portage and other Northeast Ohio counties.

A total 123 streets made the cut, and Kent roads reached the top 10 — three times.

South Water Street downtown, between Haymaker Parkway and East Main Street, ranked third on the list with 12 total crashes during that two-year span, according to the AMATS report. That section of road way has included several car versus pedestrian accidents during that period.

Two sections of East Main Street made the top ten.

The section of road between Horning Road and the city’s eastern limit ranked fifth with 37 total crashes during the two-year period. And the section of East Main Street from Water Street to Willow Street ranked seventh with 29 total crashes, according to AMATS.

Various stats are used to calculate the ranking — including average daily traffic, the severity of the accidents, the length of road and so on, meaning total crashes are just one of many factors to determine overall rankings.

Akron's Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, from West Market to North Broadway Street, took the no. 1 slot due, in part, to the severity of its 41 crashes.

The AMATS study is intended to draw attention toward potentially unsafe roadways likely in need of redesign, and the study may be used by a community as a first step in the process of applying for federal Highway Safety Program funding.

Sections of Kent’s road ways made the list 12 more times.

For the complete study, click here.

Editor's note: Cuyahoga Falls editor John Deike collaborated on this story.