Of the top 10 most dangerous intersections in Maricopa County, all but two fall in two cities – Glendale and Phoenix. The study, performed by Arizona Republic, took into consideration all accidents in Arizona that resulted in an injury or at least $1,000 in vehicle damages.

Arizona Republic found that Glendale’s 59th and Olive Avenues intersection has seen the most crashes at nearly two collisions per week. The second-highest collision area is at Dunlap and 35th Avenue in Phoenix, where drivers see a direct correlation between traffic volume and crash rates.

Road infrastructure, surrounding land use, traffic volume and driver error all contribute to the danger of the intersections. Maricopa County has been shifting away from the wide streets and arterial roads that invite loads of commuters and attract fast-moving traffic, however the Phoenix metro area continues to use outdated street-planning techniques. Because freeways are a relatively recent development in Maricopa County, about 60% of Valley drivers use arterial streets rather than the more open and traffic-conducive freeways. Commuters are still congesting main roads with traffic that could be diverted elsewhere.

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Cities that are seeing budget cuts and have less spending money will find the issue of dangerous intersections more difficult to overcome. Although sometimes inexpensive quick fixes exist, like changing the timing of traffic lights can, most of the time it is more pricy. More lanes need to be built, on-ramps need to be widened to avoid rear-end collisions and more police presence and enforcement needs to be seen on the roads.

The city of Glendale is now taking the lead on improving infrastructure to reduce crash rates. “When we go back and look at it, we fully expect the rear-end accidents to be down, the left-turn accidents at the driveways to be down — in fact, (they will) be non-existent,” said Glendale principal traffic engineer Chris Lemka.

If you or someone you love is involved in an accident in Arizona, contact your injury lawyer in Tucson, AZ for a free legal consultation.  An experienced accident and injury attorney in your Arizona city will fight for the maximum compensation for your full recovery.