The Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen decided against putting any additional lights or signs at the intersection of Dyke and Goose Rocks roads early this month.

The intersection’s safety was brought into question after a concerned citizen called a board member wondering if a flashing traffic beacon should be put in place.

Kennebunkport Chief of Police Chris Simeoni reviewed the crash data from the specific location, and reported that a total of 10 crashes had occurred there over the past ten years.

“Ten accidents in one location sounds like a lot, but typically the department will take anywhere from 70 to 80 reportable accidents in a year’s time,” Simeoni said. “This would be a fairly small totality when we compared that to the rest of the accidents that we take down.”

A majority of the accidents were due to drivers failing to yield right of way. Vehicles pulling off of Dyke Road or Goose Rocks Road were failing to yield to traffic that was already traveling on Route 9, Simeoni said.

Two other accidents were from failure to stop at a stop sign, one was an improper U-turn, and two were from drivers failing to stay in their lane.

Each accident occurred between the months of May and September, with most of the accidents occurring in July.

“All other months, there are hardly any accidents there,” board member Marybeth Gilbert said.

The summer months are the busiest months in Kennebunkport, with the population swelling from around 3,500 to over 10,000 people from late May to early September.

More cars on the roads provide more opportunities for accidents, Simeoni said. The intersection at Dyke Road and Goose Rocks Road can also cause confusion over which driver has the right of way, especially when many of those drivers are from out of town.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year,” Simeoni said. “People get impatient, they’re here to enjoy their vacations and they want to get where they’re going.”

One thing that doesn’t show up on the data is close calls, Gilbert said. As a resident who lives close to the intersection, Gilbert said she and her husband have had many instances where they’ve witnessed an accident almost occur.

“I think people literally lose their sense of driving capability in the month of July at that intersection,” Gilbert said.

Despite concerns from the community, Simeoni ultimately said he doesn’t believe the intersection at Dyke Road and Goose Rocks Road is particularly troublesome.

From his research, the crashes that have occurred there over the past 10 years average out to only one crash per year, which is insignificant compared to the number of crashes reported to the department every year.

To avoid crashes this summer, Simeoni urges drivers to slow down and pay attention.

“A couple extra seconds at the intersection isn’t going to hurt anybody,” he said.