Avoid This Connecticut Intersection During The Holiday Weekend

As Americans head to shopping malls this weekend for Black Friday deals or travel to holiday gatherings, they may want to avoid, or at least be careful at, certain intersections in metropolitan areas — especially in America’s largest cities, which a recent analysis of highway traffic safety data shows have some of the country’s most dangerous crossings.

But for the most dangerous intersection in the country, head to Bensalem in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Knights Road crosses Street Road. It’s a busy corner with a sandwich stop, a gas station and a Kohl’s store, and roads carry traffic for a nearby casino and horse track. It's also dimly lit and has poor signage, discontinuous sidewalks, aggressive drivers and jaywalkers, Time magazine said earlier this fall, citing a 2008 traffic audit prompted by 144 crashes over two years in which 170 people died or were injured.

In Connecticut, the most dangerous intersection is on the Merritt Parkway from mile marker 46.42 to 47.03 in New Haven.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2003-2012 showed seven fatal accidents over 10 years at the intersection, which TIME magazine said made it the most dangerous intersection in America. The magazine analyzed the most recent traffic fatality data available, then drilled down to sort it by accidents that occurred within 150 feet of each other and further focused on accidents at intersections.

The study also used information from the crowdsourcing website badintersections.com.

The 11 runners-up for the most dangerous intersection, according to the TIME study, each had six fatalities during the 10-year period. They are:

• Elizabeth, New Jersey: East Jersey and Spring streets
• St. Louis, Missouri: North Grand Boulevard and Montgomery Street
• Asheville, North Carolina: Patton Avenue and New Leicester Highway
• Awendaw, South Carolina: North Highway 17 and Seewee Road
• Lucedale, Mississippi: Routes 63 and 98
• Astor, Florida: State Roads 40 and 19
• Orlando, Florida: North Semoran Boulevard and Old Cheney Highway
• Kissimmee, Florida: Vista Del Lago Boulevard and Route 192
• Frostproof, Florida: South Scenic Highway and County Road 700
• Hialeah Gardens, Florida: Hialeah Gardens Boulevard and North Okeechobee Road
• Wilton, Maine: Allen Street and Route 2

This week, the Rubens and Kress law firm in Chicago laid out America’s most dangerous intersections in a map. The country’s five largest cities — New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix — all have the most dangerous intersections in their states, according to NHTSA data.

The cities with the lowest number of accidents were on the East Coast, including Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Each had fewer than 10 crashes in its largest city, the data showed.

The nation’s least populated state, Wyoming, is the most dangerous for drivers, with a reported 25.7 deaths for every 100,000 people, according to the NHTSA data.

The NHTSA study looked at the driver’s role in deadly crashes, finding that Texas had the most speed-related fatalities in 2015, with 3,516, compared with only 23 in Washington, D.C.

A 2010 NHTSA study determined 55.7 percent of crashes were a result of distracted driving, failure to pay attention or poor visibility, and 29.2 percent were a result of a poor decision made by the driver, whether by timing or aggressive driving.

Click here for the most dangerous intersections by state.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images