10 Most Dangerous Intersections in US

[Anrhydeddu]

http://www.statefarm.com/di/danlist00.htm

Of the top 10 (according to State Farm), two are in Philadelphia (#2, #3), two are in Phoenix (#4, #7) and two are in Tulsa, OK (#5, #6). I find that somewhat startling given all of the intersections in the US. Anyone know of these intersections?

[tucker342]

That's pretty interesting that three different cities have two each...

[Alan T]

The only one I know is Plano, Texas one on the list. It used to be higher a few years ago. Wasn't really ever a huge deal to me when I went there though..

Kind of interesting information though. None of the cities listed were ones that I would consider horrible driving cities...

[Alan T]

Hmm.. took a look at some of the states where I despise driving in.. Georgia (Atlanta), New York (NYC), California (LA), Massachusetts (Boston), etc.. most of them don't have any listings. I wonder if the list is impacted any due to State Farm's lack of a presence in some of the larger cities..

[TroyF]

Yep, I know the two in Tulsa well. One of my close friends in Tulsa lives just off of 51rst and Memorial. To get to another friends house I have to drive past 71 and Memorial.

I've never noticed anything strange about either intersection to be honest. They are both pretty busy, but driving in Denver I've seen busier.

I do know the streets in Tulsa get VERY slick when they are wet. Some of the slickest roads I've ever driven on, even in just rain.

TroyF

[Fritz]

they forgot one: The intersection of Rosie's drive way and her local Krispy Kreme.

[Arles]

I've been through 7th Street and Bell in Phoenix more than a few times. The way the lights are setup seem to be a little strange and force some "suicide" left turns on people when they are dangling in the middle of the intersection. But, there are a few others in Phoenix that I find more dangerous.

Arlie

[WussGawd]

I am very familiar with 19th Ave & Northern in PHX (used to live a mile south of there until just a year ago).

It's a nasty place because you have strip malls on three corners, and a lot of traffic in tight spaces (Northern is only two lane there, and it should have been widened to three a long time ago) and its about a mile away from I-17, which runs through West-Central Phoenix.

Actually, 19th Ave is pretty dangerous all the way from downtown up to about Thunderbird.

Can't comment on 7th St & Bell. Been there, but not enough to really know. FWIW, there are other intersections in central PHX just about as dangerous.

[cthomer5000]

the entire Boulevard of Death (Queens Blvd) in NYC should be included. It's some scary shit.

although I guess it should be expected in a city where all the tourist traps sell this t-shirt:

Welcome to New York:
(giant picture of hand gun)
now duck motherfucker!

[Blade6119]

Im familiar with both the philly ones and the phoenix ones...have seen too many crashes at all 4...i can attest to them being very dangerous intersections...

[daedalus]

What the . . . where is the love for southern California?!?!

I guess our drivers make up for the lack of dangerous intersection.

[Samdari]

Originally posted by TroyF
Yep, I know the two in Tulsa well. One of my close friends in Tulsa lives just off of 51rst and Memorial. To get to another friends house I have to drive past 71 and Memorial.
Small world. I lived in Tulsa (does anyone in Tulsa really live?) for over two years, and lived just off 51st & Memorial.

[bosshogg23]

Red Lion & the Blvd. in Philly is bad. I was just there today. There is a Best Buy on that corner and people whip in and out of it causing alot of the problems.

[Pumpy Tudors]

The intersection in Metairie, LA (a "suburb" of New Orleans, sort of) is pretty rough, but there's one a mile or two away that I personally find much worse.

[JasonTobiasIV]

Mission & 16th in San Francisco. Junkies are ruthless unless they are high.

[kcchief19]

The State Farm Danger Index is determined by the number of crashes at various intersections, how many of those crashes involved injury and the severity of those crashes.
The severity factor would seem to mean that an intersection with fewer accidents that are severe would rank as more dangerous than an intersection with more accidents that are less severe. Hence, intersections that make it more likely for a lot of high-speed accidents would rank high on this list.

I'm not familiary with these intersections, but the fact that the ones in Philly and Tulsa are on the same road indicate to me that there is a fundamental flaw in the design of these roads that make high-speed accidents more probable.

When the federal highway system was started, states were given a great deal of freedom trying different designs. As a result, highway entrance/exit design can vary widely from state to state. There are certain designs that have been determined to be more dangerous than others. Perhaps these states simply have road designs that are unsafe.

Since severity is a factor, weather and seat-belt usage could also play a big role.

[Craptacular]

Too bad they couldn't calculate an appropriate "driver idiocy index" to go along with this. I can't vouch for any of the top 10 in the U.S., but I'm am at least somewhat familiar with all 3 listed for Wisconsin (very familiar with one here in Madison). They are all in heavily-used commercial areas, where everyone is in a huge hurry to get to Wal-Mart or the mall. Yes, there may be some designs that aren't perfect (for various reasons), but drivers create the real dangers.

[Eaglesfan27]

I live close to the one in Metairie, LA and find it to be horrible. I also think the one near Causeway and Veterans is very bad.

[Marmel]

According to that site, Connecticut and New York do not have any dangerous intersections. Who would have thought.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally posted by Eaglesfan27
I live close to the one in Metairie, LA and find it to be horrible. I also think the one near Causeway and Veterans is very bad.

Yes, the one at Causeway and Veterans is the other one that I was referring to. The one at Clearview is only really bad right now because of the construction next to the Target. The intersection at Causeway is horrific due to everyone trying to merge onto Causeway from the service road while the people on Causeway are trying to merge into the service lane to turn onto Veterans. Highly scarifying.

[SackAttack]

I'm shocked that Burbank isn't on that list.

[aquavit]

This must not include exits off interstates.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Craptacular
Too bad they couldn't calculate an appropriate "driver idiocy index" to go along with this.

Then Memphis, Tennessee would have to top the list (though Atlanta would be in the top ten). When traveling through Memphis, make sure not to pull out of on a green light until you count to three. Guarenteed at least one person will run the light, but probably several. Those people are nuts.

[Mustang]

Originally posted by Craptacular
Too bad they couldn't calculate an appropriate "driver idiocy index" to go along with this. I can't vouch for any of the top 10 in the U.S., but I'm am at least somewhat familiar with all 3 listed for Wisconsin (very familiar with one here in Madison). They are all in heavily-used commercial areas, where everyone is in a huge hurry to get to Wal-Mart or the mall. Yes, there may be some designs that aren't perfect (for various reasons), but drivers create the real dangers.

I'm familiar with the 2 in Brookfield and Bluemound road is nothing more than a shining beacon for capitalism.. I think every damn franchise known to man is on that road. . . Absolutely miserable road.

[BFleming]

Funny....I drive past Red Lion & Roosevelt and Grant & Roosevelt twice a day back and forth from work....they're only like 2 miles apart but I don't remember seeing any accidents...who knows

[albionmoonlight]

Clearview and Vets also has that weird double merge thing going on where you have half the traffic on Causeway trying to get to the right and the other half trying to get to the left. It also does not help that the intersate on/off ramps are right there--it just increases the traffic and the people trying to get into merge position.

[Bee]

Originally posted by aquavit
This must not include exits off interstates.

Yep, that would be an interchange not an intersection.

[scooper]

Odd. I've always read that most accidents occur within a mile of my home. Yet I don't see that intersection listed here anywhere.

[Anrhydeddu]

Hmm.. took a look at some of the states where I despise driving in.. Georgia (Atlanta), New York (NYC), California (LA), Massachusetts (Boston), etc.. most of them don't have any listings. I wonder if the list is impacted any due to State Farm's lack of a presence in some of the larger cities..

I suspect you may be right, Alan even though it would be hard for me to believe that State Farm would not be in a market.

I'm shocked that Burbank isn't on that list.
What the . . . where is the love for southern California?!?!

I have traveled extensively in a majority of the states in the US, particularly the ones that are more urbanized. In my perception, California (where I learned to drive) has the best driving experience. The reason is simple. The state's transportation network was built for the automobile. In most of the states in the East, the roads and highways were put (or squeezed) in after significant built-up. What this means for California is that there are more room for interchanges and major arterials. Also, no matter where one goes in any of the urban areas in California, there are wide freeways. If you go to church or to the mall, chances are you just hop on and off of a freeway or at least a major arterial. The only problems come from 1) occasional fog, 2) rare rains when drivers don't adjust and 3) jams (when no one is moving fast, there are fewer accidents).

Then Memphis, Tennessee would have to top the list (though Atlanta would be in the top ten). When traveling through Memphis, make sure not to pull out of on a green light until you count to three. Guarenteed at least one person will run the light, but probably several. Those people are nuts.

GD, I think everyone can point to their specific locale as the worse. The thing that makes Colorado Springs nationally spotlighted is that every single traffic light phase in the city is timed so that there is a 3-5 seconds delay between red on one and green the crossing way. They say that in 5 years, it will increase to 10 seconds. We don't get several running the red light but as much as 8-10 in certain intersections. They also say that altitude has something to do with it.

In all of my travel experience, I can't point to specific intersections as being the worse but more on particular conditions. Where you have cross merging (as in the phased out cloverleaf interchanges), that's really, really bad. But I also can point to drivers in the South where I constantly saw drivers go on a freeway on-ramp and the STOP at the end as if there were a stop sign (and no ramp-meters in sight) before getting into traffic. While I feared for my life driving through NYC and the CD Beltway, I checked my insurance everytime I left the house in Kentucky. :)

edit: I have to add one more thing. As much as I love the Northeast, the one thing I hate more than anything are the rotaries (very rare in the West). If you think the cloverleafs with their cross-mergings are bad, how about up to 8 of them in the same intersection. Those things are stupid and very dangerous, imo.

[detroit_fan]

I know the 2 Tulsa ones very well. The one at 71st is a killer. It is the fastest growing part of Tulsa. It is the exit to most of the retail in northern Tulsa. I think it is the new krispy kreem they put in that causes most of the problems. :)

The one on 51st I can't figure out. There is an office depot and big grave yard next to it, but it doesn't seem to be any different than any of the other intersections in T-Town.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
[I have to add one more thing. As much as I love the Northeast, the one thing I hate more than anything are the rotaries (very rare in the West). If you think the cloverleafs with their cross-mergings are bad, how about up to 8 of them in the same intersection. Those things are stupid and very dangerous, imo.

The problem with "roundabouts" is familiarity ... few people in the U.S know how to use them, and many are scared of them. A properly designed modern roundabout used by familiar drivers is safer and offers higher capacity than a signal.

[GoldenEagle]

Originally posted by GrantDawg
Then Memphis, Tennessee would have to top the list (though Atlanta would be in the top ten). When traveling through Memphis, make sure not to pull out of on a green light until you count to three. Guarenteed at least one person will run the light, but probably several. Those people are nuts.

Heh. I am from Memphis and know what you are talking about. If you go the Birnigham way to get to Memphis, then you go through my town, Southaven. You actually have to get off the highway and drive on Goodman Rd., a very dangerous and hectic road.

[SackAttack]

Anrhyheddu -

best driving experience, my ass. The entire city of Burbank appears to be designed specifically to get drivers lost while trying to find left turns.

Hell, check out The Old Road down past Magic Mountain Parkway in Valencia one of these days. If you keep following that road, you get to an intersection down by the 5 freeway. Okay, nothing unusual there. 'Cept, what it DOES is, it splits off so that one lane goes straight through the intersection, and the other two turn right.

While THAT'S happening, they have a traffic island that splits off for traffic running perpendicular to that lane. You know the ones that you don't really have to stop for on a right turn, so long as you yield? Well, nobody yields. They keep rolling right on through, which makes it nigh on impossible to get into the far right-hand lane if you need to get on the freeway or even get to the burger joints by the entrance.

I've had people nearly hit me as I'm going through the intersection on MY green light while they roll through their RED light. I've made the local police aware of the numerous near-misses I see there on a daily basis, as well as CHP, and the answer they keep giving me is, "We're low on manpower, there's nothing we can do about it."

Okay, so why, for the love of all that's holy, hasn't a "no-turn-on-red" light been installed? That would make that intersection 150% safer, right there.

Josh

[Anrhydeddu]

Josh, sounds like very poor traffic engineering which admittedly, can make an intersection dangerous. But I was referring to general driving conditions and traffic patterns, and ease of getting from A to B.

What we need more of in this country is not necessarily more manpower but people to PAY ATTENTION more when they are driving.

[clintl]

The best driving experience is in Wyoming, where they don't have any traffic, and 80% of the places on the map aren't real towns. Just make sure you buy gas when are in a real town.

[sabotai]

circles (or rotaries or round a bouts) are actually very good for traffic. All the traffic goes one directions and as long as people know how to use them, they are actually very safe.

Having said that, I f'n hate them :) But living in New Jersey, it's impossible to avoid them. They are EVERYWHERE here, even out in the middle of Salam County where there is no f'n traffic!

[Frozenrope]

I saw a report on this a couple of years ago, which listed the intersection of Golf and Roselle in Schaumburg, IL in the top 5. (A mile from my work.) They have since installed another light to the far left of the driver's view on each side, so that you can see the left turn arrow turn red and not have to "guess" when you're travelling behind a semi which blocks the view of the main light.

I wonder if the top 10 listed have that problem.


Oh well.

[SackAttack]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
What we need more of in this country is not necessarily more manpower but people to PAY ATTENTION more when they are driving.

Ugh, tell me about it. I got nothing against the hearing-impaired: I'm completely deaf in my right ear, and have been from birth. That said, there is NO fucking way somebody who has to communicate with sign language should be not only driving, but SIGNING TO SOMEBODY IN THE SAME FUCKING CAR while they do so.

I saw that on the way to work yesterday. This lady wasn't paying ANY attention to the road. She was more interested in her conversation. That's, like, the ultimate extension of the 'conversation is a distraction' argument. Sheesh.

[Happy29]

I really thought the most dangerous intersection was in Elton John's room.