2022 was deadliest year for traffic crashes in DeKalb County in a decade; Sycamore had most crashes, data shows

Traffic heads north and south on Peace Road just north of I-88 Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in DeKalb. This stretch of road is going to be widened to four lanes this summer.

SYCAMORE – Last year, more crashes occurred on Sycamore roads than in any other township in DeKalb County, according to data provided in the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office 2022 annual report.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan presented his office’s annual report – which also included crime statistics – to the DeKalb County Board’s Law and Justice Committee on May 22.

Sullivan said failure to reduce speed, failure to yield to right-of-way, or disregarding traffic signals, were the common causes of many of the crashes his office responded to in 2022.

“It seems like the most common theme is a failure to reduce speed,” Sullivan said. “People are following too close, they’re driving too fast, they don’t give themselves the proper amount of time to slow down and react.”

Of the 625 crashes that occurred in DeKalb County last year, 84 of them – or 13.44% – occurred in the city of Sycamore, according to the data compiled by the sheriff’s office.

The annual report indicated DeKalb and Cortland weren’t far behind Sycamore, with 72 (11.52%) and 64 (10.24%) crashes reported in those cities, respectively. More than 35% of the total crashes in DeKalb County in 2022 occurred in the cities of Cortland, DeKalb and Sycamore last year, according to the report.

It seems like the most common theme is a failure to reduce speed. People are following too close, they’re driving too fast, they don’t give themselves the proper amount of time to slow down and react.”

—  DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan

The intersections of Route 64 and Peace Road in Sycamore, and Peace and Barber Greene roads in DeKalb have each recorded the most crashes of any intersection in the county over the past two years, according to the data.

DeKalb County Board and Law and Justice Committee member Amber Quitno, a Democrat from District 3, said one of the reasons she ran for the position last year was a growing concern that sections of Peace Road were becoming dangerous. Quitno, a Sycamore resident, said she wasn’t surprised to find there were more crashes in Sycamore than anywhere else in the county in 2022.

“Everything east of [Route] 64 over there and Barber Greene and – everything on Peace Road really is a dangerous road to drive on in this particular area, and so I’m not surprised at all,” Quitno said.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan presents the 2022 DeKalb County Sheriff's Office annual report to the DeKalb County Board's Law and Justice Committee on May 22, 2023.

There were 13 crashes at the intersection of Route 64 and Peace Road in 2021 (the most of any intersection that year) and seven were recorded in 2022. Last year, the intersection of Peace and Barber Green Roads was the site of 12 crashes, four more than were reported in 2021 and the most of any intersection in 2022, according the sheriff’s report.

The DeKalb County Highway Department is currently seeking input from area drivers for a Plank Road realignment study. Some area drivers – including Quitno – feel Plank Road has multiple dangerous intersections. No Plank Road intersection, however, has had enough crashes to make it among the intersections in the county with the most crashes within the past two years, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sullivan said the intersection with the most crashes often varies from year to year.

“Usually [Route] 64 and Peace [Road] is one of our highest intersection related crashes each year,” Sullivan said. “It’s where people are following too close and they rear-end somebody at the light up there or something like that – or Peace [Road] and Barber Greene [Road]. It does vary each year, on where we have the highest number of intersection related crashes.”

According to the report, 63.2% of all 2022 crashes in DeKalb County took place between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and about 80% of crashes occurred during clear weather conditions.

Fourteen separate crashes in DeKalb County in 2022 led to 16 fatalities – the most in at least 10 years – according to the report, and 14% of those crashes were alcohol or drug related.

Sullivan said a single fatal accident is one too many, and safer driving is something everyone in the public needs to improve upon.

“Be more aware of your driving and if you’re driving impaired then – you should not be driving impaired and you should be making other alternative means instead of getting behind that wheel,” Sullivan said. “So we want to try to do everything and anything that we can to try and reduce those number of fatalities that are on the road and that’s by having a proactive approach and being visible, and being able to devote resources to traffic enforcement when we can – which we will continue to try and do.”

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