Photo by Pat Christman
Traffic congestion is a common sight on Stadium Road during Vikings training camp. Statistical and anecdotal evidence shows vehicle accidents rising in Mankato during camp.
More cars, more accidents?
For the more than 6,700 vehicles that visited Vikings training camp last summer, it might just be that simple.
An analysis of Mankato accident reports during 2005 and 2006 shows an increase of about a third in crashes between Aug. 1 and Aug. 15, compared to the same period in July. Accidents during both years rose from about 60 in July to 80 or so in August.
And while it’s not at all a sure thing that this correlation is ironclad evidence that training camp drivers are involved in the crashes, the data are intuitive.
Kent Reeves, owner of All-American Towing, says he sees an increase in training camp accidents. He blames that on visitors who don’t know where they’re going. All-American had the city’s towing contract for about 30 years, meaning the company received the calls requesting tows from police.
But Affordable Towing, which won that contract last year, doesn’t yet see that trend, co-owner Rick Kahnke said.
He said he does expect an uptick in September, when Minnesota State University’s 14,000 or so students begin classes. And this August increase could be partially explained by students returning to Mankato early.
Kahnke said the accidents his company has handled last week have been mostly local drivers.
Photo by Pat Christman
Visitors made up many of the 6,700-plus cars parked last year at Vikings training camp, a fact that could help to account for an increased number of crashes.
Judging by a quick survey of about a dozen training camp visitors during Friday’s scrimmage with Kansas City, visitors outnumbered locals. And a license plate check down one aisle in the parking lot showed 15 Minnesota plates and 16 from other states.
Dave Cowan, facilities services director for MSU, said he hasn’t seen any accidents in MSU’s parking lots since the beginning of training camp this year.
Nick Devos and Warsama Daoud, both of Minneapolis, were making what they guessed was their third trip to training camp. They, like others, said they just drove in for camp, then drove directly home.
They said they got lost the first few times, but now Mankato’s streets aren’t very confusing.
Matt Westermayer, deputy director of public safety, also was walking around camp Friday.
While he hasn’t looked at car crash data during camp, Westermayer said more accidents make sense simply because there are more vehicles on the road.
The crash reports, however, don’t show that more accidents are happening in the three largest streets around training camp — Stadium Road, Warren Road and Monks Avenue. Reports show a combined 11 accidents in July of 2005 and 2006 and 12 during the same years in August. Most accidents still occured on higher-traffic roads such as Madison Avenue and Victory Drive.
Jim Ondich of Austin was making his first camp visit and said he had some trouble with a U-turn.
“She thought I was going to rear-end someone,” he said, pointing to his partner, who laughed.
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