More Than 1,300 Crashes Reported In This Suburb Last Year: PD

WHEATON, IL — More than 1,352 crashes were reported in Wheaton last year, police said during a town hall meeting on May 29. Of these, 186 involved injuries and two were fatal.

Residents brought up traffic safety concerns during the meeting, including crashes at the intersection of Butterfield and Naperville Roads, which had the most traffic crashes in 2024. Here are the top 10 intersections with crashes reported in Wheaton in 2024, along with the total number of crashes for each:

1. Butterfield and Naperville Road: 70
2. Roosevelt and Naperville Roads: 37
3. Geneva Road and Main Street: 34
4. Roosevelt and County Farm: 33
5. Butterfield and Lambert Roads: 21
6. Roosevelt and Lorraine Roads: 19
7. Roosevelt Road and President Street: 17
8. Butterfield Road and East Loop Road: 17
9. Geneva Road and Gary Avenue: 16
10. Roosevelt Road and West Street: 13

Police say there were 115 DUI arrests in 2024. One of these arrests came after a fatal crash that took place in November.

Drivers fled the scene in both of the fatal crashes that were reported in 2024. On Sept. 8, a 25-year-old man walking east on Butterfield Road near Scottdale Circle was fatally hit by a car driving east. The driver fled the scene, but police say their info was photographed by a license plate reader. They were later arrested in Aurora and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death.

The second fatal crash in 2024 took place on Nov. 6 around 1:17 p.m. Police say a car heading south on County Farm Road ran a red light and hit another car before fleeing the scene. A passenger in the other car was killed in the crash.

The driver who fled was pulled over by police shortly after. They were charged with reckless homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death, aggravated driving under the influence of drugs, obstructing justice and resisting and obstructing a police officer.

Traffic safety took center stage during the public comment of the May 29 town hall, with two residents raising concerns about crashes at Butterfield and Naperville Roads.

Jane Cox, who lives in the nearby Briarcliffe subdivision, said, "Every night it sounds like there’s drag races late at night," at the intersection. Cox said she contacted city officials shortly after the fatal crash on Sept. 8 to see what can be done to minimize crashes at the intersection.

Cox said she had written a letter to city officials encouraging them to install a stoplight there.

Police Chief P.J. Youker said that intersection is owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), which would make decisions about stoplights. He added that the intersection is within the bounds of incorporated Wheaton and is patrolled by the Wheaton Police Department.

“We do heavy traffic enforcement in those areas because where we see speed is where we see injuries and [where] we see death," Youker said.

He said the majority of the city's DUIs are on IDOT roads.

Another resident of Briarcliffe said, "On that roadway there is constantly speeding and you hear motorcycles in the middle of the night.”

Youker said "motorcycles prove to be quite an issue" because it's "tough to not only catch up to a motorcycle, but to do traffic enforcement if they don’t want to stop, which can lead to an even more dangerous situation.”