New road crash data reveals collision hotspots across city

There were 687 road crashes in the Maitland local government area between 2017 and 2021, and of those, nine were fatal.

A total of 128 resulted in serious injury, 253 in moderate injury, 88 in minor or other injury, and 209 in non-casualty towaways.

Cessnock Road is a common place for crashes, with 21 recorded on the 4.7km stretch of road, two of those resulting in a fatality.

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Another hotspot is on Molly Morgan Drive near Stockland Green Hills, where seven crashes were recorded over just 293 metres of road.

There were 25 crashes recorded on the New England Highway at East Maitland over the 3.16km between Maitland Private Hospital intersection and the Emerald Street turn off.

There were four crashes recorded near the Melbourne Street intersection at East Maitland.

In Central Maitland there were 12 crashes recorded on High Street, and 11 on Ken Tubman Drive.

Five crashes were recorded on the New England Highway/Cessnock Road roundabout, four of them resulting in moderate or serious injury.

Looking west, there were 10 crashes on the 760 metre stretch of New England Highway, Rutherford between Johnson Street and Fourth Avenue, most resulting in either moderate or serious injury.

There were 21 crashes recorded from Rutherford McDonalds to the Allandale Road turn off, and four of those were just metres from St Joseph's College and St Patrick's Primary School.

Port Stephens-Manning Highway Patrol Acting Inspector Jason Bernadine said in general, major factors in collisions are speed, fatigue, occupant restraints/helmets, driver impairment such as alcohol or drugs and driver distractions, such as mobile phones.

"Be patient in heavy traffic and keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front," he said.

"Drive to the conditions and avoid driver distractions such as mobile phones."

Data on the map is from Transport for NSW NSW Road Crash Data 2017-2021, released on November 11, 2022.

The data includes crashes that were reported to police, happened on a road open to the public, included at least one moving vehicle and involved at least one person being killed or injured or at least one motor vehicle being towed away.