Arizona Traffic Fatalities 15-year high in 2021 Accidents killed 1,180 people statewide, according to Arizona Department of Transportation data.
Many of these fatal accidents occurred at intersections.
The Maricopa Government Association tracks reports of crashes at intersections, providing a glimpse of where drivers may need to pay extra attention. Intersections account for 60% of traffic injuries and 40% of fatalities in central Arizona, according to the association’s records.
Between 2017 and 2021, more than 400 crashes occurred on 99th Street and Lower Buckeye Road in the Phoenix suburb of Tolleson, making it the most dangerous intersection according to Maricopa Government Association data.
How to rank intersections
Margaret Herrera, traffic safety program manager for the association, said it wasn’t just the number of accidents that made the Tolleson Intersection top the list of the most dangerous intersections in Phoenix.
In fact, intersections with fewer collisions may be ranked as more dangerous than intersections with more collisions.
The collision risk score assigned to each intersection takes into account the frequency, severity and type of collisions. The intersection of 99th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road has a score of 0.953 out of 1.
Dangerous intersection hotspots
Dangerous intersections are concentrated along 35th Street in Phoenix. This street alone contains 13 of the 100 most dangerous intersections in the entire region surveyed by the Maricopa Government Association in Central Arizona, including the Maricopa, Florence and Pinal County Apache Junctions.
In the East Valley, the Tempe intersection of Rural Road and University Drive ranks as the 16th most dangerous intersection in the region, with 198 crashes in the past five years.
51st Street and Camelback Road in Glendale are the most dangerous intersections in the West Valley. Since 2017, more than 200 traffic accidents have been recorded.
Scottsdale has only one intersection in the 100 most dangerous intersections according to Maricopa Government Association data. From 2017 to 2021, there have been more than 150 crashes at this intersection.
Traffic fatalities over the years
Between 2017 and 2021, 5,223 people died in traffic accidents in Arizona, according to data from the State Department of Transportation.
Arizona has one of the highest pedestrian death rates in the United States, at 2.99. Per 100,000 population in 2020.
Phoenix is working to reduce pedestrian fatalities. Since 2009, the city has installed at least 85 high-intensity pedestrian crossing signals (commonly known as HAWK beacon signals), according to city transportation spokesman Greg Buck.
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