MONROE, Frenchtown — For the fourth year in a row, Michigan Auto Law named the North Telegraph and Stewart roads intersection in Frenchtown Township as the most dangerous in Monroe County.
The law firm takes data from Michigan State Police every year and breaks down the 20 most dangerous intersections throughout the state and by county.
"No. 1 on the Monroe (County) list is Telegraph and Stewart; No. 2 is Telegraph and Custar. Then if you take a look at the rest of the list, there are three other intersections that all involve Telegraph Road," said Todd Berg, an attorney with Michigan Auto Law.
Berg said the firm finds there's a trend in Monroe County. Four of its most dangerous intersections are located in Frenchtown Township. However, on a more positive note, Berg said, "the intersections with high crashes in Monroe County were not even close to (being) high enough in the top 20 for the state."
The law firm also finds there was a slight decrease in crashes between 2019 and 2020. Berg said he hopes it's because people are driving more safely and putting their phones down.
"Or it could be because of the pandemic. Traffic everywhere across the state was down and crashes across the state were down dramatically," Berg said.
At the same time, Berg said one-third of all fatal crashes in Michigan in 2020 occurred at intersections, which is higher than normal.
"It makes sense because you have people going every which way, you have people stopping starting making left turns. And meanwhile, everyone is talking, texting on their phones even though they're not supposed to be," Berg said.
He adds, to stay safe, be extra careful when driving through intersections.
Don't speed, don't text or talk on the phone and don't drive while impaired.