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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 40 percent of the estimated 5,811,000 crashes that occurred in the United States in 2008 were intersection-related crashes:

Crashes often occur at intersections because these are the locations where two or more roads cross each other and activities such as turning left, crossing over, and turning right have the potential for conflicts resulting in crashes..

What are the most dangerous intersections in Philly?

Given this data, we wanted to uncover the most dangerous intersections for drivers in Philadelphia. So, we parsed and analyzed tens of thousands of 2015 crash records from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Here are the most dangerous intersections in Philadelphia:

[table id=14 /]

Interactive Map

Use the map below to explore the dangerous intersections throughout Philadelphia. Larger circles represent a more dangerous intersection that may be fatal and may cause a need for medical attention. Hover over any circle to see the key crash data for each intersection.

Key Findings

• The 150 Philadelphia intersections identified here accounted for 772 total crashes involving 2,676 people in 2015. Those crashes caused 1,252 injuries and 15 fatalities.
• Each dangerous intersection from the study averaged 5.15 crashes, 8.35 injuries, 0.10 fatalities, and involved an average of 18 people.
• The most dangerous intersection – Grays Ave. and S 49th St. – was home to just one crash, but it was a devastating one. The collision involved a stolen vehicle which crashed into a SEPTA trolley, injuring 31 people and killing one.
• The third most dangerous intersection, Penn St and Arrott St, was also the scene of a single vehicle collision with a SEPTA trolley, injuring 21 people and killing one.
• The intersection with the most total individual crashes in 2015 was N Broad St and Vine St.
• The intersection with the most fatalities was Schuylkill Expy. and Montgomery Dr. There was just one crash at this intersection but it claimed the lives of three people.

Methodology

We parsed over 43,000 Pennsylvania collision records for 2015, separating all accidents that occurred at intersections within Philadelphia city limits. We then created a formula to rate the danger of the intersection.

Formula: Number of People Involved + Total Crashes (x2) + Injuries (x5) + Fatalities (x20) = Danger Score

The collision data used in this study was obtained from the PennDOT’s open data portal.