Which intersections are the most dangerous in Valley cities? Here’s what we found – AZCentral

Vehicles pass through the intersection at Interstate 10 and Baseline Road in Tempe on Dec. 10, 2019.(Photo: Thomas Hawthorne/The Republic)

Over the past few months, The Arizona Republic has revieweddata from numerous Valley cities to assess which intersections have had the most vehicle crashes.

From the West Valley to East Valley, The Republic pinpointedintersections with the highest number of collisions from 2016 through 2018, which for most cities was themost recent complete year of data available. Using those numbers, The Republic identified what could be considered the most dangerous intersections in those cities.

The data shows more than half of the intersection-related collisions across the Valley occurred at or within about a mile of major freeways, where traffic tends to back up.

In several cities, the same major road is tied to multiple intersections that are among the most crash prone among them McDowell and Indian School roads in Phoenix,Bell Road in Surprise, Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale and Rural Road in Tempe.

The Republic's review of Phoenix found intersections where the greatest number of accidents occurred during the period reviewed were on the west side of the city, between Camelback and McDowell roads, and 27th and 75th Avenues in areas not far from major freeways.

"Many of Phoenixs roads carry a high volume of traffic; in fact, it is not uncommon to have 60,000 to 80,000 vehicles per day travel through our major intersections. Additionally, several of our major roads have over five or up to seven lanes of traffic," said Ashley Patton, a city spokeswoman.

Overall, the city has 65,857 intersection-related crashes over the three-year period.

The Republic used the crash data to determine which intersections have been the most dangerous over the three-year period reviewed in major Valley cities. The review relied on overall crashes rather than just fatalities because in most cities, traffic deaths are spread among numerous intersections and locations, whereas numerous crashes can occur at or near a single location.

Here is what the review found, followed by some further explanation and possible solutions:

Between 2016 and 2018, these intersections in the city of Phoenix had the most collisions, according toPatton.

Among those west Phoenixintersections, 51st, 67th and 75th avenues which run in a north-south direction connect to Interstate 10.McDowell Road is less than a quarter-mile north of the freeway, while Indian School is about 2.2 miles north of I-10.In addition,27th Avenue is about a quarter mile west of Interstate 17.

Overall, there were 465 fatal intersection-related collisions in Phoenix during the period, Patton said.

The intersections at27th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, Seventh Street and McDowell Road, 43rd Avenue and Thunderbird Road, Baseline Road andJesse Owens Parkway, 43rdandMissouri avenues, 43rd Avenue andHubbell Street and 83rdandVirginia avenues had the most fatal intersection-related collisions during that time, each totaling three, said Patton.

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From 2016-18, the following intersections in Scottsdale had the most traffic collisions, according toSam Taylor, a traffic engineeringanalystfor the city:

The city had more than 9,300 intersection-related collisions between 2016 and 2018, which includes minor and local intersections, said Taylor. Heexplainedthat Scottsdale classifies all collisions within 100 feet of an intersection as intersection-related.

Among the top 5, the two on Shea Boulevard were close tothe Loop 101 freeway, along with the No. 1 intersection at Frank Lloyd Wright. The other two were in south Scottsdale.

Scottsdale had a total of 21 fatal intersection-related collisions during those three years, according to Taylor. He added thatnone of those collisions occurred at the same intersection during that time.

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InGilbert, Val Vista Drive, a major north-south road that extends northward into Mesa, comes up multiple times among the intersections with the most collisions from2016 to 2018, according to dataprovided to The Republic by Sgt. Mark Marino of the Gilbert Police Department:

Of the 4,870 intersection-related collisions investigated by the city, 21 were fatal collisions that occurred at various locations across the town, according to Marino.He added that Gilbert classifies all collisions within 150 feet of an intersection as intersection-related.

During that same three-year period,the followingintersections in Tempe hadthe most collisions, according to data analyzed by The Republic:

Of approximately6,540 intersection-related collisions between 2016 and 2018, 15 were fatal, the data showed. While two of the fatal collisions occurred at the same intersection ofRural Road and Southern Avenue in 2016 and 2017, the others occurred at various intersections throughout the city.

Tempe has three major freeways that touch the landlocked community: Interstate 10, Loop 101 and Loop 202.

In Mesa, there were approximately8,600intersection-related collisions between 2015 and 2017, according todata analyzed by The Republic. Crash data reports for all of 2018 was not yet available, said Jason Flamofthe Mesa Police Department.

The data showed that the following intersections had the most collisions during the two-year period for which data was available:

In thoseyears, there was a total of 36fatal intersection-related collisions, according to the data.The data provided to The Republic did not specify ifanyintersections experiencedmorefatal collisions than others but Flam said amajority of the city's fatal collisions do not occur at intersections.

In Chandler, the following intersections had the most collisions from 2016 though 2018, according to data provided to The Republic:

The city had a total of 11,329 traffic collisions from 2016 through2018, 32 of which were fatal collisions, according to Seth Tyler, a spokesman for the Chandler Police Department. It's unclear how many of those total collisions and fatalitieswere intersection-related.

According toDebbie Albert, a traffic engineer for Glendale, these intersections had the mostcollisions between 2015 and 2017:

The city had a total of8,348 intersection-related collisions during those three years,29 of which were fatal, said Albert.Two of those fatal collisions occurred at Glendale and 83rd avenues while the rest occurred at various intersections throughout the city, she added.

In Glendale, collisionswithin 300 feet of an intersection are typically classified asintersection-related, according to Albert.

Peoria had approximately 6,400intersection-related collisions,according to 2016-2018data analyzed by The Republic. The data showed the following intersections had the most collisions:

There were 19 fatal intersection-related collisions during that time, none of which occurred at the same intersection, according to the data.

The following intersections in Surprise hadthe most collisions between 2016 and 2018, according to data provided to The Republic:

The data showed that the city had approximately 2,800 traffic collisions during that time, however, it's unclear how many of those were intersection-related.

Additionally, in those three years, Surprisehad a total offour fatal traffic collisions, all of which occurred at separate intersections, according to the data.

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For some of the cities, failure to yield, speed and disregarding the traffic signal were some of the major factors inmany of theintersection-related collisions.

"Speed too fast" was the highest-ranked violation committed by drivers in allintersection-related collisions in Mesa over the past three years,according to Flam, who added that "speed too fast" does not automatically mean the driver was exceeding the speed limit.

Failure to yield and disregarding thetraffic signal were the highest-rankedviolationsin the city's fatal intersection-related collisions, he added.

The violations were among the top factors in fatal and non-fatal intersection-related collisions in Phoenix, as well, according to Patton.

To improve safety, Phoenix's Street Transportation Departmentupgraded15 traffic signals with left-turn arrows last fiscal year upgrading left-turn arrows to flashing yellow arrows and addingleft-turn arrows orflashing yellow arrows tosignals that didn't have them, according to Patton. Several other Valley cities have adopted that system as well.

Research and studiesshowthat the upgrades could help reduce collisions, with flashing yellow arrows alone reducing collisions by 25%, she said, citingCrash Modification FactorsClearinghouse study published four years ago.

Phoenix also rebuilt 14traffic signals to meet current standards and improve visibility, installed 11 new traffic signals at unsignaled intersections and added advanced detectionto six traffic signals, said Patton.

She explained that advanced detection is atraffic signal technology that waits for a gap in traffic before turning yellow to minimize the number of timesa driver decides between drivingthrough a yellow light or stopping.

In the next three years, the department plans to upgrade more than 100 traffic signals, according to Patton, who also cited a more fundamental solution to reducing crashes.

"The city also encourages the public to obey traffic laws at all times and to stay alert on our roadways," said Patton, adding that the city'ssafety campaign, Heads Up, offers a list of safety tips for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Marino said many of the collisions in Gilbert weredue to "some sort of documented inattention."

"Traffic concentration around a high school, as an example of the intersection of Germann Road and Val Vista Drive, coupled with newer drivers, cellphone usage while driving and other distractions are recipes for collisions on all streets in the Valley," he said.

According to Marino, the townis examining data to determine if any crash trends existnearLoop 202and South Val Vista Drive, which he said is the town's worst intersection, averaging one collision every two weeks or26 collisions per year.

In the meantime, the Gilbert police areoperating an unmarked aggressive driving vehicle throughouttown that aims to enforce traffic laws and correct driving behaviors that have the tendency to cause collisions, said Marino.

An ArizonaGovernor's Office of Highway Safetygrant covered the vehicle's more than $47,000 price tag, according to a Sept. 23 Facebook post from the Gilbert Police Department.

"Drivers tend to drive differently when a fully marked police car or motorcycle is traveling with them in traffic.The (aggressive driving) car is built to blend in with traffic and is targeting drivers that are dangerous to the community and are driving with no regard to your safety," explained Marino.

Similar to Phoenix,the town utilizes "smart intersections" that evaluate traffic volume and lane occupancy and cycles the intersection accordingly to ensure efficiency and safety, according to Marino.

The town has also implemented asafe-driving campaign, "Speed Down. Eyes Up. Drive Safely,"that emphasizes safe driving.

Among the intersections in Glendale with the highest number of collisions over the past three years, 1/3 were rear-end collisions and another 1/3 were left-turn collisions while the remainder were other crash types, Albert said.

In addition to education and enforcementbyGlendale's traffic education team and police, Albert said the city is"working aggressively" to install flashing yellow arrows at all majorintersections because national studies have shown that they are better understood intelling drivers they need to yield.

The flashing yellow arrows will be installed at a total of 45 intersections, with a focus on major intersections such as59th and Glendale avenuesand 51stand Peoria avenues, she added.

She added that median islands are also being installed to limit turning movements at driveways closeto signalized intersections.

"The transportation team will continue to identify locations that need additional improvements and secure funding to implement the enhancements," said Albert. "We also encourage drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to be vigilant around traffic. Please put down your phone and obey the traffic signals, signs and pavement markings."

Reach the reporter at chelsea.curtis@arizonarepublic.comor follow her on Twitter@curtis_chels.

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Which intersections are the most dangerous in Valley cities? Here's what we found - AZCentral