NEW YORK, NY – A new report released that examined twenty years of federal transportation records revealed the deadliest intersection in all of New York is in New York City itself. You would think the deadliest intersection could be some rural road where high speeds cause a lot of traffic crashes, but this busy and bustling Queens neighborhood intersection had six deaths reported during the time period covered in the study.
In the United States, nearly 25 percent of all fatal crashes occur at intersections.
“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,” the report said.
Related: The three deadliest intersections in America are in New Jersey
According to the Fang Law Firm, a personal injury firm based in Colorado, the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue in the Woodhaven section of Queens has had more fatalities than any other intersection in the state of New York.
The bustling four-lane road, with bus lanes in either direction, crosses under the Jamaica Avenue elevated train tracks and can be a bit confusing for drivers and pedestrians. In recent years, the City of New York has had some work done.
In 2015, New York City recognized the problem in a congested corridor study. Using federal transportation department funding, the city was able to make changes in an attempt to make the roadways safer for both drivers and pedestrians.
The study sought to address the ability of pedestrians to make it all the way across the wide street heading north or south along Jamaica Avenue while crossing Woodhaven Boulevard.
“The wide center medians and service road medians on Woodhaven Boulevard at Jamaica Avenue that extend into the crosswalk are beneficial for providing refuge for pedestrians who do not make it all the way across the street,” the NYC report found. “However, they present problems for vehicles making left turns from Jamaica Avenue. More than at other locations, the left turns overlap each other. A possible solution is to ban the turns from one direction. The eastbound left-turn has better alternative routes than the westbound, so banning the eastbound left turns would be preferable between the two. However, the alternative routes would involve diverting traffic onto quiet residential streets.”
In all, New York City was ranked the third deadliest metropolitan area in America for pedestrians and drivers behind Miami and Phoenix.
“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,” the report said. “Interestingly, in addition to Miami, three more cities in Florida make up for the deadliest intersections – Tampa, Orlando, and Sarasota.”
According to the report, urban areas are less deadly than rural areas.
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.
In this study, the Fang Lawfirm 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).