On top of that, herds of commuters pass through Provo's neighbor to the north.

So for everyone who steps in, drives through or has roots in Orem, here are some newly released public-safety facts that might be good to know, courtesy of a 2006 city report.

* A traffic accident occurred every 2.3 hours in Orem last year.

* Five of the top six most-dangerous intersections are along State Street. "That would make sense, that's where most of the traffic is," Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards says.

* The intersection of 800 West and University Parkway had the most accidents (49). State Street and 800 North had the second most (47).

* Overall, there was a 5 percent dip in accidents from 2005 to 2006. Edwards says that drop is impressive, given the increased traffic.

* Firefighters handled 2,738 fire-related calls last year, and fire losses slid to $863,339, down from $1.2 million in 2005.

* Police officers handed out 13,937 traffic citations; 58 percent were moving violations.

* Officers gave the most citations on Tuesdays (21 percent) and Wednesdays (19.5 percent). Sunday saw the fewest tickets (7 percent).

* Orem had 29 Part 1 crimes (serious offenses such as theft, arson, murder and rape) for every 1,000 residents in 2006. In 1997, Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents was 53.4. "The continued drop in Part 1 crimes is significant," Edwards says. "The drop in the number of thefts is the biggest factor. The department has made an effort to be proactive in our patrol."

* The city had one murder, one arson, 16 rapes and 18 robberies last year. In contrast, there were 2,152 thefts, 143 auto thefts and 269 burglaries.

* Fridays had the highest arrest count (1,058), while Monday had the lowest (852).

* A theft occurred every four hours, an auto theft took place every two days and a rapist struck every 24 days.

* Criminal mischief (aka vandalism and graffiti) is up 58 percent in the past 10 years. There were 1,385 cases of criminal mischief last year, compared with 1,223 in 2005 and 913 in 2004. "Much of it was gang related," Edwards says.

* Of the 248,988 calls to dispatch, 194,549 were non-emergency.

Orem was named the nation's 12th-safest city last year by the Morgan Quitno Press, a national research organization.

"We're proud of that," Edwards says.

toddh@sltrib.com