A study released by downtown Pittsburgh law firm, Dallas W. Hartman P.C., highlights Allegheny County’s most dangerous intersections for motor vehicle collisions.
By: Neil Strebig
Northside has five of the most dangerous intersections in Allegheny County according to a recent study by Dallas W. Hartman P.C. Law Firm.
The intersections of Rt. 65 offramp and the West End Bridge along with the Madison Avenue and E. Ohio Street intersection have a Crash Risk Index (CRI) of 92 and 79, respectively making them the fourth and fifth worst intersections in the county according to the law firms study, which was compiled by the data analysis group, 1Point21 Interactive.
“Dallas Hartman approached us at 1Point21 Interactive and wanted to look into road safety issues in Pittsburgh. They help victims of motor vehicle accidents on a daily basis, so the idea of potentially helping prevent accidents from ever occurring was very interesting to them,” said 1Point21 Interactive representative Daryl Blank in an e-mail interview. “Often times, municipalities do their own road and intersection safety studies and never release the findings. So, we decided to take it upon ourselves and do one on our own.”
According to the study, Allegheny County has the greatest density of traffic collisions in the state, tallying 10 percent of all collisions statewide. 1Point21 Interactive used geospatial processing to identify nearly 41 percent of all vehicular crashes in the county happened at 787 intersections within the City of Pittsburgh. The data was gathered via reports from the PA Department of Transportation between the years 2014 to 2016.
The Rt. 65 and West End Bridge intersection recorded 42 crashes, 16 injuries during that time frame. The intersection of Madison Ave and E. Ohio St. reported 26, crashes and 15 injuries, neither intersection recorded any fatalities during that time span.
Out of the 50 intersections highlighted in the report, Northside had five including the aforementioned two, the intersections of General Robinson St. and Sandusky St., General Robinson St. and Anderson St. and East St. and Madison Avenue, with CRI ratings of 62, 53, and 46 respectively. The CRI is a composite score, based on an intersection’s collision frequency and severity of vehicular crashes.
“Our goal is to raise awareness and increase safety. This goes for motorists as well as city officials. If people are aware of high-risk intersections, perhaps they can adjust their driving habits accordingly by driving more defensively — take an extra look when moving through the lights,” said Blank.”If city officials or planners see this, perhaps they can allocate some budget to adjust an intersection or add a sign or signal.”
