Most Dangerous Intersections
According to the Federal Highway Safety, 21% of the 41,059 motor vehicle fatalities happened on an intersection or are intersection related. 8,657 (21 percent) were intersection or intersection related.
The NHTSA Analysis of Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes and Fatalities at Intersections from the period of 1997 to 2004 reported that on an average each year:
- About 31 percent of intersection crashes occur at intersections controlled by traffic signals
- About 38 percent occur at intersections controlled by stop signs
- About 27 percent occur at intersections with no traffic control devices
The analysis showed that most crashes that involved at least one driver who violated a traffic control device or failed to yield properly at a traffic control device.
The study showed that drivers 65 years old and older were involved more in fatal intersection crashes as compared to those that occurred at non-intersection areas. In fact, 31 percent of all fatal crashes at intersections involved at least one older driver.
In the period between 1997 through 2004, the state which had the highest number of fatal crashes at intersections controlled by traffic signals was California which had a total of 2,521 crashes, followed by 2,483 crashes in Florida.
Texas had the most number of fatal crashes occurring at intersections controlled by stop signs with 2,137 crashes and again followed by Florida with 2,112 crashes.
In its 1998 list of most dangerous intersections, State Farm cited that three intersections in California belonged to the top ten list. These are:
- Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles
- Adams Avenue and Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach
- Fair Oaks Blvd. and Watt Avenue in Sacramento
The Department of Transportation in Minnesota in its 2008 Review of California’s Rural Intersection Crashes also said that the intersections of US 101 and Ocean Drive, US 395 and Gill Station Coso Road US 101 and La Conchita Road had high crash frequency.
Source: NHTSA Analysis of Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes and Fatalities at Intersections, 1997 to 2004