The weekly Bar Harbor Times makes a strong case that Cottage Street in Bar Harbor is the most accident-prone thoroughfare on Mount Desert Island. The newspaper asked the Maine Department of Transportation for a tabulation of traffic accidents on the island in the past three years. The totals: 775 crashes altogether, 422 of them in Bar Harbor, and 86 of them were somewhere along busy Cottage Street. Most of them were minor fender benders, but it does make you think twice.

Does that mean drivers should avoid Bar Harbor in the frantic high season of July and August? Not on your life, say the town’s merchants, Chamber of Commerce and police. Many didn’t even want the new telephone alert system to tell when the parking lots in Acadia National Park were full for fear the warnings would keep people away from Bar Harbor and the park.

The crowds and the turmoil may even be part of the attraction that Bar Harbor holds in the summer months. After all, the Chinese expression for happiness is a combination of the characters for hot and noisy.

If you do venture into this zone of happiness this summer, especially if you choose Cottage Street, the point is to drive slowly, stay alert, leave space between you and the next car and be prepared for another driver to slam on the brakes to check out a restaurant or one of the many T-shirt and moccasin shops. Watch out, too, for impulsive left turns and for pedestrians darting across in the midst of traffic.

If you want to join the crowds in Bar Harbor, don’t let the traffic statistics scare you off.