NIXA, Mo. (KY3) — State Highway 160 is a major thoroughfare through Nixa. After a crash there on Friday, November 1, some in the community are concerned about safety at the junction at Aldersgate Drive.

According to some people in the community, the intersection is no stranger to accidents.

“It’s probably once a week,” said MJ King, who works near the busy intersection. “A couple of weeks ago, I think I had three in one week. It was ridiculous.”

King said accidents are common there and she has witnessed them as they happen.

“We’ve been talking about this for months,” King said. “It was such a big deal. We will have more people coming here. Hey, did your cameras capture this accident so we can understand it?”

However, this is not the first time concerns have been raised about this intersection. Back inside June 2021, Nixa police told KY3 News there were 12 injury crashes in the first six months of that year, up from three the previous year. More recently, the Nixa Police Department said there hasn’t been an increase in accidents, but with how busy the intersection is, accidents may seem more frequent.

“There may be some that are reported and some that are not reported, but we just don’t know,” said Officer Brent Forgey. “It’s hard to pick a specific intersection and then find the exact statistics right away.”

According to Forgey, Nixa PD collects crash data, which is then sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which compiles that information with other data from departments across the state. As of Nov. 4, MSHP does not have data on the most recent crashes, but maps dating back to 2021 show multiple crashes on Highway 160 and Aldersgate Drive.

According to Forgey, another thing to keep in mind is that the holidays are coming up, which means more people will be out on the roads, and on days when severe weather affects the area, extra caution is needed.

“Any junction you are on the highway, you come to a t. Pay attention to the road conditions. If you see traffic signs, speed limit signs slow down. Be cautious,” Forgey said. “It might also be something you want to avoid.”

However, something has to change for MJ King, who frequently sees accidents there.

“I also drive on these back roads, so I get a lot of the slower parts,” King said. “It’s definitely scary watching all these cars come through here. I’ve seen a lot of people run these lights.”

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