For the second year in a row, an intersection near Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge is the city’s most accident-prone, according to recently-released statistics.

In 2011, Dempster Street and Luther Lane, near the hospital, saw 30 vehicle crashes. The Touhy Avenue, Northwest Highway and Prospect Avenue intersection and Dempster Street and Potter Road ranked second and third most dangerous with 28 and 27 collisions, respectively, figures show.

The rankings are compiled by the Park Ridge Police Department.

Cmdr. Lou Jogmen said it’s hard to say why the area has seen the most accidents, but added the volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic in that area is higher than most parts of town. Past safety measures include traffic control and pedestrian signs, and police are working with hospital officials to fix the problem, he said.

“We do enforce there the best we can, but at the intersection there’s not that many places (a squad car) can sit at,” said Jogmen, adding that speeding is not an issue.

The most common cause of accidents in that area include vehicles following other vehicles too closely and drivers not seeing pedestrians when they make a turn. Those kinds of accidents can be prevented by paying more attention to the road and surroundings, Jogmen said.

Though Dempster Street and Luther Lane topped the 2011 list, the intersection saw a drop over 2010, when 33 crashes were reported to police. New to the list are Dee and Talcott roads and Oakton Street and Riverside Drive, which ranked fourth and 10th.

Overall, crashes jumped from 1,330 in 2010 to 1,362 in 2011, the statistics show. Crashes causing personal injuries spiked from 96 to 128 during that same time period. Jogmen attributed the general increase in collisions to bad weather during the 2011 winter season, including the Groundhog Day blizzard, which caused more collisions than normal.

“Just looking at the data, that seems to be the case,” he said.