There were almost 100 more traffic accidents in DeKalb last year than the year before, but related injuries only rose 3 percent.

DeKalb suffered 1,786 accidents in 1989, causing 233 injuries and two deaths, according to the DeKalb Police Department’s 1989 annual report. There were 226 injuries and two deaths in 1988.

The additional 98 accidents are a worry for DeKalb Police, said Chief Don Berke. “We’re looking to reduce that this year,” he said.

However, the small increase in injuries might be a result of more people wearing seatbelts, he said. “The law has been in effect several years now,” he said.

it and run accidents made up 344 of the 1,786 accidents. However, police arrested only 74 of the hit and run offenders.

DeKalb’s most dangerous intersection is at East Lincoln Highway and 10th Street, police said. There were 21 accidents at the intersection, an increase of four from 1988.

However, second on the list is at Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Road, police said, an intersection which saw more than twice as many accidents than the year before.

There were 16 accidents at the intersection, an increase of nine from the previous year.

University Police Lt. Ron Williams said he did not know the actual type of accidents occuring in the intersection.

“There’d have to be a further study” to determine whether the accidents were vehicle and vehicle, vehicle and pedestrian or vehicle and bicycle, he said.

Students can be more safe by using the stoplights, Williams said. “Some vehicle and pedestrian accidents are simply because they didn’t follow the light,” he said.

Other trouble intersections along Annie Glidden Road are at Hillcrest Avenue and at West Lincoln Highway, racking up eight accidents at each. Another campus corner with accident problems is at First Street and Hillcrest Avenue, which had nine accidents.

Eighty-four of the total arrests were for driving under the influence of alcohol, police said.

DUIs probably occur most “wherever you have a large driving public,” he said. Annie Glidden Road and Lincoln Highway and other main roads probably have higher incidents of DUIs than residential streets, Berke said.

DeKalb Target Patrol, a group formed in 1987 to help combat DUI and traffic problems, made 761 arrests for DUIs and minor and serious traffic offenses, police said.

“It’s been going extremely well since it started,” Berke said.”