[Study] The Deadliest Intersections in the United States

 

On August 29, 2021, a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run collision at the intersection of Lalor Street and Route 129 in Trenton, New Jersey. Months earlier, another pedestrian was struck and killed by a car while crossing the same intersection. In 2016, one of the crossing guards – assigned at the intersection to improve pedestrian safety during peak crossing times – was struck and killed by a pickup truck.

In the United States, nearly 25 percent of all fatal crashes occur at intersections.  While a deadly collision can happen anywhere and at any time, are there intersections where motorists may be at a higher risk of being killed than others?

In order to understand the full scope of the issue, we worked with 1Point21 Interactive to examine 20 years of fatal crash data from the NHTSA.  Below, we examine exactly what a deadly intersection is and identify the 15 deadliest intersections in the United States as well as the deadliest crossing in each state.

From 2000 through 2019, there were 159,394 fatal crashes designated as intersection-related.  However, not all intersections are created equal and we found that it was extremely rare for multiple fatal crashes to occur at a single crossing.

Consider this.  There are about 15,812,406 intersections in the continental United States.  Less than one percent saw even one fatal crash (147,000).  Only 1,828 had three or more fatal crashes – less than .01 percent.  

Interactive Map of Fatal Collisions at U.S. Intersections

Anatomy of a Deadly Intersection

As a result of our analysis, we determined that any intersection where at least three fatal crashes occurred should be considered a deadly intersection.  A total of 1,828 intersections in the U.S. fit this criterion. What did these crossings have in common?  We observed that deadly intersections are:

• most likely to be at the crossing of a secondary road (a highway) and a local road
• disproportionately located in a rural area
• very rare – only .01 percent of all intersections

Half of all deadly intersections are at the crossing of a secondary road and a local road – despite these only making up 10 percent of all intersections.

A secondary road is a main artery without limited access – typically a U.S. highway, state highway, or county highway. These roads have one or more lanes of traffic in each direction, may or may not be divided, and usually have at-grade intersections with many other roads and driveways. A local road is generally a road with a single lane of traffic in each direction. When high-speed traffic areas meet lower speed traffic areas, there is more likelihood of crashes.

Populated areas are less dangerous

36 percent (656 out of 1,828) of deadly intersections are located in rural areas – despite only 18 percent of the U.S. population living in rural areas. We defined rural areas as any area that is not inside the limits of a city with a population of over 2,500.

There are several possible reasons for higher fatal crashes to occur at rural intersections, in spite of the low population. People in rural areas drive at higher speeds, more often drive without wearing seatbelts or while intoxicated, and if they are injured, they may not receive timely medical care given their remote location. The design and layout of rural roads – older and more outdated than urban roads – may also be a contributing factor.

The Deadliest Intersections in the United States

The deadliest intersection in the U.S. – Lalor Street and Route 129 – is located in Mercer County, New Jersey and it saw nine fatal crashes from 2000 through 2019.

This intersection is one of just 15 in the U.S. that had seven or more fatal crashes during that time period. Among these crossings, four are located in New Jersey, four in Florida, and two in Texas.

*The 15 deadliest intersections are highlighted in orange and show all crossings where seven or more fatal crashes occurred between 2000 and 2019.

What is alarming is that two of the deadliest intersections are only four blocks apart: Spring Street (U.S. Routes 1&9) and East Jersey Street and Spring Street (U.S. Routes 1&9) and East Grand Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Both intersections are at the crossing of a local road (East Jersey and East Grand Streets) and a highway (US-1&9). There were nine fatal crashes at East Jersey Street and U.S. Routes 1&9. Four blocks away, at U.S. Routes 1&9 and East Grand Street, there were seven fatal crashes, the latest in 2018.

These intersections were identified in the City of Elizabeth’s 2005 Master Plan and were studied by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) for safety improvements.

The Bureau of Safety Programs worked on improving pedestrian safety at these intersections through enhancements to signal layouts and operations. The following improvements were made:

• East Jersey Street: Pedestrian signals were added and minor signing and striping enhancements were installed. The minor street approaches received separate left-turn lane use designation and protected/permissive lead phasing.
• East Grand Street: Pedestrian indications were added for all four crossings and near left clamp-mounted vehicular signals were installed.

Despite these improvements, fatal crashes have continued to happen at these intersections. In fact, all of the combined 16 fatal crashes at these two intersections have happened after the 2005 Master Plan identified them as dangerous.

The 40 Deadliest Intersections in the U.S.

The table below ranks the 40 deadliest intersections in the United States during the study period. If two intersections had the same number of fatal crashes, we broke the tie by the intersection that saw the most recent crash.

Rank	Intersection	State	County	Number of Fatal Crashes
1	Lalor Street and SR-129	New Jersey	Mercer	9
2	East Jersey Street and US-1&9	New Jersey	Union	9
3	Massachusetts Ave and SR-70	New Jersey	Ocean	8
4	SR-70 and US-41 SR-45 14th St W	Florida	Manatee	7
5	SR-19 and SR-40	Florida	Marion	7
6	SR-360 and US-287	Texas	Ellis	7
7	Grand Blvd and Montgomery St	Missouri	St. Louis	7
8	SR-132 Street Rd and SR-2019 Knights Rd	Pennsylvania	Bucks	7
9	East Grand St and US-1&9	New Jersey	Union	7
10	SR-46 and SR-83	Michigan	Saginaw	7
11	Dug Hill Rd and US-Sr2	Alabama	Madison	7
12	Pierce Ferry Rd and US-93	Arizona	Mohave	7
13	CR-74 and SR-31	Florida	Charlotte	7
14	Fm866 and SR-32	Texas	Ector	7
15	Deen Still Rd E and SR-33 Commonwealth Ave N	Florida	Polk	7
16	SR-9 and Sw 7th St	Florida	Miami-Dade	6
17	NW 54th St and SR-944	Florida	Miami-Dade	6
18	SR-704 Okeechobee Blvd and SR-809	Florida	Palm Beach	6
19	Broadway Rd and SR-85	Arizona	Maricopa	6
20	59th Ave and Indian School Rd	Arizona	Maricopa	6
21	60th Street West and SR-138 Avenue D	California	Los Angeles	6
22	SR-183 and US-25	South Carolina	Greenville	6
23	S El Capitan Way and SR-160 Blue Diamond Rd	Nevada	Clark	6
24	Firth Sterling Se and Suitland Pkwy Se	Washington D.C.	District of Columbia	6
25	North Oaks Blvd and US-1	New Jersey	Middlesex	6
26	North Avenue and US-1 & 9	New Jersey	Union	6
27	SR-25 and US-95	Idaho	Jerome	6
28	CR-Kropf Rd and SR-211 Odot 161	Oregon	Clackamas	6
29	FM1776 and US-285	Texas	Pecos	6
30	SR-29 and U	Wisconsin	Shawano	6
31	27th Ave and Mcdowell Rd	Arizona	Maricopa	6
32	SR-35 and US-65-278	Arkansas	Chicot	6
33	51St Ave and Thomas Rd	Arizona	Maricopa	6
34	FM2311 and SR-31	Texas	McLennan	6
35	Fruitridge Rd and Power Inn Rd	California	Sacramento	6
36	CR-218 and US-301	Florida	Clay	6
37	SR-63 and US-98	Mississippi	George	6
38	Major Blvd and SR-435	Florida	Orange	6
39	NW 116th Way and US-27	Florida	Miami-Dade	6

Which Cities Have the Highest Number of Deadly Intersections?

Out of all metropolitan cities, Miami stands out with the most intersections that our study classified as deadly, followed by Phoenix and New York. From 2000-2019, 138 intersections in Miami were the site of three or more crashes. Interestingly, in addition to Miami, three more cities in Florida make up for the deadliest intersections – Tampa, Orlando, and Sarasota.

South Florida has some of the worst intersections in the U.S. – as well as the worst congestion. Florida, a popular tourist attraction, is heavily populated with drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists at all times, increasing both the risks of a traffic jam and a crash.

The Deadliest Intersections in Each State

Table Data: Each State’s Deadliest Crossing

Intersection	City	State	Fatal Crashes
SR-1 Seward Hwy and Northern Lights Blvd	Anchorage	Alaska	2
US-SR2 and Dug Hill Rd	Brownsboro	Alabama	7
US-65-278 and SR-35	Dermott	Arkansas	6
US-93 and Pierce Ferry Rd	Dolan Springs	Arizona	7
SR-138 and SR-138 Ave D	Lancaster	California	6
SR-52 and CR-41	Hudson	Colorado	5
Park Ave and Olive St	Bridgeport	Connecticut	3
Suitland Pkwy Se and Firth Sterling SE	Washington, DC	District of Columbia	6
US-13 South Dupont Hwy and Webbs Ln	Dover	Delaware	3
SR-31 and CR-74	Punta Gorda	Florida	7
SR-32 and SR-32	Oakfield	Georgia	5
SR-93 and Linakola St	Waianae	Hawaii	2
US-65 and SR-330	Mingo	Iowa	5
US-95 and SR-25	Jerome	Idaho	6
Stony Island Ave and E 79th St	Chicago	Illinois	5
US-30W and SR-19	Warsaw	Indiana	4
US-54 and 215th W	Goddard	Kansas	4
US-23 and US-25	Ulysses	Kentucky	4
S Fieldspan Rd and Landry Rd	Scott	Louisiana	4
SR-41 and Dublin Rd	Richmond	Massachusetts	2
SR-650 and Metzerott Rd	Silver Spring	Maryland	5
US-2 and SR-152	Palmyra	Maine	3
N Gera Rd and Holland Rd	Frankenmuth	Michigan	7
US-212 and S Paul St	Cologne	Minnesota	5
Grand Blvd and Montgomery St	St. Louis	Missouri	7
US-98 and SR-63	Lucedale	Mississippi	6
US-93 and Old US 93	Ronan	Montana	3
Old Stage Rd and General Howe Rd	Riegelwood	North Carolina	4
US-85 and SR-68	Alexander	North Dakota	4
US-81 and SR-12	Crofton	Nebraska	3
SR-28 and SR-171	Ossipee	New Hampshire	2
SR-129 and Lalor St	Trenton	New Jersey	9
US-62 and SR-483	Hobbs	New Mexico	4
Blue Diamond Rd and S El Capitan Way	Las Vegas	Nevada	6
Woodhaven Blvd and Jamaica Ave	New York	New York	6
Trenton Oxford Rd and Jacksonburg Rd	Hamilton	Ohio	5
SR-74 and Waterloo Rd	Edmond	Oklahoma	5
SR-211 and S Kropf Rd	Canby	Oregon	6
Street Rd and Knights Rd	Bensalem	Pennsylvania	7
SR-102 and SR-7	Burrillville	Rhode Island	2
White Horse Rd and SR-183	Greenville	South Carolina	6
SR-34 E and 457th Ave	Madison	South Dakota	3
US-SR1 and Rock Island Rd	Rock Island	Tennessee	5
SR-32 and FM 866	Odessa	Texas	7
Antelope Dr and SR-126	Layton	Utah	3
Arlington Blvd and Graham Rd	Falls Church	Virginia	3
Main St and Merchants Row	Middlebury	Vermont	2
SR-26 and Booker Rd	Othello	Washington	4
SR-29 and County Rd U	Shawano	Wisconsin	6
US-50 and SR-23	Salem	West Virginia	5
SR-220 and SR-487	Casper	Wyoming	2

Safety Tips at Intersections

While improving intersection design is key, there are certain steps we can take to increase our safety at dangerous intersections:

• Slow down: Fatal crashes are more likely to occur at intersections that are at the crossing of a highway and a local road – where the speed limit changes dramatically. Whether you have the right of way or not, drive slower than usual when turning at an intersection, and don’t speed up to make a yellow light.
• Scan your surroundings and enter the intersection carefully: There is a lot happening at intersections and it is easy to miss something that could potentially cause a collision. Make sure to scan the area in all directions and to enter the intersection carefully, even if you have the right of way. Look for stop signs, stoplights, roadblocks or construction, pedestrians and crosswalks, bike lanes, turning lights, or other restrictions – is there anything that is blocking your visibility or that could be misinterpreted by another driver? Other vehicles or pedestrians may not see you at first, so it is your responsibility to prepare yourself for the different possibilities.

• Stop for pedestrians and keep a safe distance from other vehicles: Stay especially aware of pedestrians and where other vehicles are in relation to you. If possible, make eye contact with the other driver or pedestrian when there is any room for a misunderstanding. 

• Follow the law: Make your intentions extremely clear by obeying the law: signaling during turns, driving at the speed limit, coming to a complete stop at stop signs – and always driving sober.

• Stay off your phone and other distractions: Intersections come with enough complications – don’t add to them through cellphone use or other self-created distractions. Stay safe by remaining as alert as you can.

Methodology and Fair Use

In this study, we analyzed 2000-2019 fatal crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to filter crashes that occurred in an intersection, or were caused by traffic moving through an intersection (eg. The crash occurred outside the intersection itself but happened because of someone turning, or something of that nature).

Our Denver car accident lawyers did not include crashes that happened on freeway interchanges, or happened in other types of intersections, like driveways or walking path/street intersections.

If you would like to report or republish our findings, please link to this page to provide a citation for our work.