It is the click of a mouse or the flick of a finger across an iPhone that tells us what Islanders want to know. In 2012, the most-read stories on the Mercer Island Reporter website were about accidents, tragedy and crime. Data collected by Google on the number of page views for each story on the Mercer Island Reporter website offers a snapshot of what topics held the attention of Islanders this past year.

Through Dec. 26, the 20 stories with the highest number of page views on www.mi-reporter.com included a real estate sale, teen drinking parties and accidents. Five of the top-read stories involved alcohol, including the story on May 1 about the Island liquor store closing. Three of those stories involved large teen drinking parties. One of those parties resulted in a fine under the city’s new hosting ordinance. Four of the top stories involved deaths, two of them accidental, and another, the sudden death of an Island teacher.

Other stories in the top 20 included a story about a car crashing through the glass doors into the floral and produce department at QFC; two stories about the Stevenson Farm being purchased (once in early March and the other on Halloween), an attempted car jacking and a spate of burglaries in February.

The story that got the fourth highest number of page views was the news in April that the $196 million school bond had been turned down by voters. In May, more than a thousand readers checked the story online about traffic impacts expected from President Obama’s visit to Seattle. News about a new Walmart coming to Factoria was number 13. A large teen drinking party in September in a vacant house was the 14th most-read story.

In October, a driver lost control of his car and it overturned at the top of Gallagher Hill Road. It was number 19 for the year.

Finally, a story about Islanders and others receiving bogus notices for overdue movie rentals from the defunct Hollywood Videos was 20th.