CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi Police investigated 114 crashes at the intersection of Saratoga Boulevard and South Staples Street in 2023, with 29 of the crashes occurring in the months of November and December.
Corpus Christi Police Lieutenant Gabriel Garcia ranks the intersection among the most dangerous in the city, citing many factors as reasons.
"A lot of it is distracted driving, sometimes people get frustrated they're in the wrong lane and they're trying to hurry up and cross over to the next lane and don't realize that someone is right up on them on the other side and gets in a blind spot and that creates that accident. Those are some of the factors that officers are seeing," Lt. Garcia said.
Lt. Garcia also mentioned another potential factor.
"This area right here is just really congested. And as you know, the further out you go toward Chapman Ranch, everything is starting to grow," he said.
So what are police doing to help keep people safe?
"Our officers do get tasked with hitting hotter areas what we consider hotter areas for accidents and traffic violations," Lt. Garcia said.
This includes posting up at the area with radar guns for speed.
"We can’t be here all the time, but we do hit the area. Because there are other parts of the city where other citizens are concerned with their area as well," he said.
Lt. Garcia said while it’s hard to predict when a crashes could happen, he knows times when crashes are more likely.
"A lot of times of course are after work. 5 o’clock, 4 o’clock to be about 6 o’clock pm. It just depends on the day and what’s going on," he said.
Lt. Garcia said you can do your part to help make the intersection safer by staying off of your cell phone, driving the speed limit and adhering to all traffic laws.
