Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Deadly Intersections, Revealed!

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Beacon has received data on Cincinnati’s top five intersections for collisions.  Presumably, these are the very dangerous intersections posing such a public safety threat, that we need to install red-light cameras to avoid imminent death.  We do not have any data on how many people die per year at these five intersections, if any die at all.  We also have no details about injuries, nor the amount of damage done.  These are just the five intersections with the most accidents.

The top five intersection crash locations are (based on statistics from the CPD for 2006-07) are: 

Rank.......................................Amount...........................Location

1.............................................133................................IR 75 EX / IR 74 Ex

2.............................................83..................................Clifton Av/Martin Luther King Dr

3.............................................81..................................Harrison Av / Queen City Av

4.............................................73..................................Colerain Av / North Bend Rd

5.............................................70..................................Madison Rd / Red Bank EX

This is a grand total of 440 accidents in one year.  As we reported earlier, these numbers are very low compared to the landscape of accidents as a whole.  In 2007, Red Light Violations accounted for only 3% of citations issued by the Cincinnati Police Department, and total citations in all of 2007 for red light violations that resulted in crashes equaled 538 of more than 17,000 collisions.

These five intersections represent 2.5% of the collisions that happened in 2007.  And remember, some research indicates that these cameras simply replace t-bone side collisions for rear-end collisions. 

In any event, if the pro-camera people are taken at their word, we have a public safety issue with these five intersections.  Any idea what it would cost to install “Dangerous Intersection Ahead” signs at these locations?  I think a fundraiser is in order…

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says:
27 Sep 2008  at  11:57 am | #

Are they gonna put a red light on the interstate highway!? That should do wonders for traffic safety!!!

ThatDeborahGirl says:
27 Sep 2008  at  02:46 pm | #

You know, as crazy as that sounds, there is a red light on a highway road. If you go out Colerain past Rumpke until it turns into Rte 27 heading towards Ross, Hamilton and other points north: Stricker’s Grove, Miami Whitewater Park etc.

There used to be simply an intersection and people had to play dodgem to get across the divider. But people run rte 27 like it’s a mini-Indy 500. So the speed limit is like 60mph but now there’s a stop light in the middle of fairly good run where it’s 60 mph and nothing to tell you there’s a light or stop ahead like the flashers that are at the top of Colerain (near Struble).

It’s crazy to see people braking to halt from 60 - 80 mph because there’s a stoplight ahead. I can’t believe there haven’t been any accidents yet.

says:
27 Sep 2008  at  04:07 pm | #

Uh, the number one intersection is at the exit of those highways.  See the “EX”?  That means “exit.”

Hmm... says:
27 Sep 2008  at  04:27 pm | #

Rank.......................................Amount

1.............................................133
IR 75 EX / IR 74 Ex
^^^^ Where the @#$^ is this?

2.............................................83
Clifton Av/Martin Luther King Dr
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Clifton+Ave+&+Martin+Luther+King+Dr+W,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio,+United+States&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.812293,79.101563&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FWsoVQIdkFP2-g&ll=39.13517,-84.519356&spn=0.005634,0.009656&t=h&z=17

3.............................................81
Harrison Av / Queen City Av
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Harrison+Ave+&+Queen+City+Ave,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio+45214,+United+States&sll=39.13517,-84.519356&sspn=0.005634,0.009656&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=Fc0EVQId9uL1-g&ll=39.126232,-84.548829&spn=0.005635,0.009656&t=h&z=17

4.............................................73
Colerain Av / North Bend Rd
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Colerain+Ave+&+N+Bend+Rd,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio,+United+States&sll=39.126232,-84.548829&sspn=0.005635,0.009656&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FYsCVgIda471-g&ll=39.191321,-84.570286&spn=0.011259,0.019312&t=h&z=16

5.............................................70
Madison Rd / Red Bank EX
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Madison+Rd+&+Red+Bank+Expy,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio+45227,+United+States&sll=39.156413,-84.543244&sspn=0.002816,0.004828&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FQ6OVQIdFBr4-g&ll=39.16484,-84.401479&spn=0.011263,0.019312&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.161292,-84.403726&panoid=Yea_ys1U9uQsTOVQgUE2-w

Hmm... says:
27 Sep 2008  at  06:15 pm | #

Dean - Yes I caught onto the EX = exit bit.

The question is what do they consider the 75/74 exit?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Interstate+75+&+Interstate+74,+Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio+45225,+United+States&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=44.928295,79.101563&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FS1XVQIdxQn2-g&ll=39.152028,-84.537456&spn=0.010799,0.019312&t=h&z=16

My best guesses are:
Colerain Ave At Powers St.
or
The Hopple St exit.

Any insight?

Hmm... says:
27 Sep 2008  at  06:31 pm | #

2nd thought - IR may stand for something like Inbound Ramp

Are these accidents really all happening at one stop light intersection, or is the #1 most dangerous intersection merely a collection of accidents that occur in the surrounding I-75 & I-74 on/off/exchange ramps where no traffic light actually exists?  The data collection point may simply be a designator for the area as a whole.

I think the #1 most dangerous traffic light in Cincinnati might be up for a downgrade once we figure out the answer.

says:
28 Sep 2008  at  09:15 am | #

Either way, does anyone really consider this a pressing public safety threat?  The notion is ridiculous.

And before someone like Crowley says that changing the Charter is “drastic,” I wonder if he supported changing the Charter to repeal Article XII.

The Charter is a living document, and it should be.

Hmmmm... says:
29 Sep 2008  at  02:14 am | #

Well when you can’t trust the politicians to think about the welfare of their citizens over earning extra income to pad their budget, I think amending the charter is a very good idea.

WestieWestsider says:
01 Oct 2008  at  02:56 pm | #

That has to be where 74 and 75 merge- there is an accident there all the time. It has to be blamed on sun glare vs speed vs people not playing attention and people not caring!

Bottom line- poorly designed enterance ramp! Bottom line.

And the police were thought that sitting down by Putz to ticket people while there was working going on there was more important than watching this area was more important! Don’t ya love ‘em???

Paul Green says:
04 Oct 2008  at  07:39 am | #

Dean,

The I-74/I-75 area is indeed the merge between the two highways.  I know this because I was president of the Northside Community Council when ODOT presented its plan to completely redesign it.  ODOT said the redesign was needed because it had the highest accident rate of any interstate-to-interstate connection in the state.

The accident rate is so high because people coming from northbound I-75 often want to get to the right to exit onto Springrove or Colerain, while people coming from southbound I-75 are trying to get to the left, out the the two “Exit Only” lanes.  Also, people coming from northbound I-75 are traveling at a higher speed than those coming from southbound I-75.  Trying to match speeds and merging at the same time creates a real mess.

Accidents could be reduced at the other intersections by lengthening the yellow lights and/or having overlapping red lights.  Changing the timing on the lights would cost much less than buying, installing, and maintaining the red light cameras.

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