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Transportation leaders release list of city's worst areas for accidents

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — From fatal crashes to fender benders, Eyewitness News learned where the most dangerous roads are across Charlotte.

Transportation leaders recently released their list of locations where crashes occur the most.

Jonathan Rebsamen has seen and heard several crashes in uptown. His office at First Baptist Church sits at East Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and South Davidson Street.

The location is the city's worst area for accidents, according to the 2012 high accident location list.

“It's always high on our radar because we have a student facility right across the street,” said Rebsamen.

Transportation leaders use crash data and traffic counts from three years to rank dangerous intersections.

The uptown intersection has seen a drastic drop in crashes since CDOT replaced stop signs with lights last year.

In northeast Charlotte, Cambridge Commons Drive and Harrisburg Road comes in second on the city's list. Every day, 15,000 cars pass through the area.

CDOT officials said 16 crashes happened there in 2011.

City officials are working with the state to change the intersection to a roundabout in the fall of 2012.

Mikal Muhammad wasn't surprised to learn Freedom Drive at Ashley Road jumped from number 20 to the third highest accident crash rate.

“I see near-misses constantly,” said Muhammad.

City officials can't explain the rise. They said the number of cars traveling there dropped while accidents climbed.

They plan to study each crash for answers, but Muhammad has his own ideas.

“People are so busy texting, Facebooking or Myspacing -- they are not paying attention," he said.