OKC's top 10 most dangerous intersections

[SoonerQueen]

OKC's top 10 most dangerous intersections:

1. N.W. Expressway and Belle Isle Blvd.
2. N.W. Expressway and Rockwell
3. N.W. Expressway and Portland
4. N.W. Expressway and N.W. 63rd St.
5. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (east side)
6. N.W. Expressway and Pennsylvania Ave.
7. N.W. 39th Expressway and Meridian
8. N. MacArthur and Reno Ave.
9. S. Western Ave. and S.W. 59th St.
10. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (west side)

5 of these are within a mile of my house. The rest I travel through at least once a week. I agree about #1. They need to change it to make it safer.

[UnclePete]

I cannot imagine any of these intersections being improved. OKC doesn't seem to like doing such things.

[Bill Robertson]

The biggest problem with all the NW Expressway intersections is people driving like idiots. If drivers would use their heads and understand that you don't need to drive like the Busch brothers the intersections wouldn't be a problem.

[RadicalModerate]

I agree with SoonerSoftail, but I must say that everytime I approach #4 on the list, from the west, on 63rd, I get a sense of dread and foreboding.

[kevinpate]

OKC's top 10 most dangerous intersections:

1. N.W. Expressway and Belle Isle Blvd.
2. N.W. Expressway and Rockwell
3. N.W. Expressway and Portland
4. N.W. Expressway and N.W. 63rd St.
5. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (east side)
6. N.W. Expressway and Pennsylvania Ave.
7. N.W. 39th Expressway and Meridian
8. N. MacArthur and Reno Ave.
9. S. Western Ave. and S.W. 59th St.
10. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (west side)
...

Seems to me the take aways from this list are
(a) stay the freak off NW expressway anytime you can do so
(b) watch out for the northside folks who came southside to enjoy some Bella Vista yum yums.

[CaptDave]

Could you share your data with me? I'd like to peruse it.

Sid,
This came from a presentation by Eric Wenger to OKC City Council this week. It is probably on the OKC site.

[bluedogok]

The biggest problem with all the NW Expressway intersections is people driving like idiots. If drivers would use their heads and understand that you don't need to drive like the Busch brothers the intersections wouldn't be a problem.

Most of those intersections are pretty wide open with good visibility, it's the people creating the problems and probably 99% of the problems are red light runners.

[OKCisOK4me]

I was in a wreck at #5 on Wednesday night after I got off work. Currently borrowing cars until my insurance can figure out which direction they're going to go on my car...

[bombermwc]

Agreed about the red light runners. You know what's an easy way to fix that? Put in red-light cameras. Start charing for them where they know they'll get caught, and that'll get you.

Also delay the onset of the green in the opposite direction. If you know people are running it, then pad it a little. It's one thing to say "they shouldn't", but if in practicality, they are, then why not do something to help it?

[bluedogok]

We have red light cameras here and we had a few in Austin, they don't really do a thing other than make some money for cities, and most of the time they don't make much. Stories about people who get a ton of red light camera tickets and never pay them because the majority of them a civil violations with none of the penalties associated with a normal ticket issued by an officer. This is because they are mostly privately owned to get around current statutes on the books. All that can be done is to sue them in civil court by the company who owns the cameras. In most markets they are an abject failure in terms of safety.

[Snowman]

Seems to me the take aways from this list are
(a) stay the freak off NW expressway anytime you can do so
(b) watch out for the northside folks who came southside to enjoy some Bella Vista yum yums.

The results should not be surprising since it is ranked by total accidents. These intersections daytime volume low is higher than the peak volume of most city intersections.

[windowphobe]

The biggest problem with all the NW Expressway intersections is people driving like idiots.

And one particular idiocy at Belle Isle and at Penn: running a red light. I have never been through there during the afternoon rush without someone flooring it at two seconds past yellow, and I've lived in this neck of the woods for nine years.

[venture]

Maybe its time to just lock NW Expressway down and redesign it as a limited access highway.

[Just the facts]

Is anyone surprised that a road the size of NWExpwy would have the most accidents? My fellow New Urbanist have been making the argument for awhile now that wider roads that allow faster speeds result in more accidents.

[catch22]

Our drivers are too bad in OKC because the rest of the drivers are too friendly.

You run a red light, no one says anything to you.
You cut someone off, no one says anything to you.
You merge onto the highway at 25 mph, no one honks.
You cut across 3 lanes of traffic without looking, no one honks.
You sit at the light for the entire cycle while the light is green, no one honks.

In other cities, drivers are much more attentive and follow the rules and generally all keep the traffic flow because they know they will get honked and yelled at if they don't. Here, bad drivers are not held accountable by their fellow motorists and therefore continue to drive like they are the only ones on the street.

[venture]

Our drivers are too bad in OKC because the rest of the drivers are too friendly.

You run a red light, no one says anything to you.
You cut someone off, no one says anything to you.
You merge onto the highway at 25 mph, no one honks.
You cut across 3 lanes of traffic without looking, no one honks.
You sit at the light for the entire cycle while the light is green, no one honks.

In other cities, drivers are much more attentive and follow the rules and generally all keep the traffic flow because they know they will get honked and yelled at if they don't. Here, bad drivers are not held accountable by their fellow motorists and therefore continue to drive like they are the only ones on the street.

Indeed. I love my horn, but I didn't grow up here.

The highway merging is a huge pet peeve of mine. If you aren't going to yield to oncoming traffic, then get up to speed because I shouldn't have to slow down or stop for you.

[RadicalModerate]

Excellent points by all. Especially regarding the effectiveness of red light cameras.

A few years ago, I had a job a small portion of which involved driving U.S. Government vehicles. In order to be "certified" to drive them we all had to take a couple of "vehicle safety training classes" that were led by an "old school" driver's education instructor. I thought he did an excellent job overall and one thing that he said during the training has stayed with me right up to today: "When you ask somebody at the wheel what they are doing you might get replies along the lines of, 'I'm going to the store' . . . 'I'm running some errands' . . . 'I'm taking the kids to the park' . . . 'etc.'. The only correct answer to that question is, 'I am operating a motor vehicle.'

I've said it before and I will say it again: Most people on the road don't actually drive They simply steer.
(and many of them seem to be nearly incapable of doing even that!).

[bluedogok]

I always felt the my learning to ride a motorcycle at an early age (9) was instrumental in my development as a driver. We went trail riding every weekend, usually out at Draper and sometimes at what is now Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. We had to learn to be hyper aware of your surroundings and a screw up (not just of your own) could have consequences. Back then Draper was wide open, no one-way trails, you just found a trail and went. You would run across riders going the other way and had to deal with traffic at speed. I got my MC license at 14 and learned to deal with traffic on the road early without the "safety cocoon" that most people learn in, self preservation and true "defensive driving" seem to only be learned when you aren't operating in an airbag bubble.

[Bill Robertson]

I always felt the my learning to ride a motorcycle at an early age (9) was instrumental in my development as a driver. We went trail riding every weekend, usually out at Draper and sometimes at what is now Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. We had to learn to be hyper aware of your surroundings and a screw up (not just of your own) could have consequences. Back then Draper was wide open, no one-way trails, you just found a trail and went. You would run across riders going the other way and had to deal with traffic at speed. I got my MC license at 14 and learned to deal with traffic on the road early without the "safety cocoon" that most people learn in, self preservation and true "defensive driving" seem to only be learned when you aren't operating in an airbag bubble.

I agree. I learned to ride about the same age. Rode Draper a lot, rode at a place we had at Eufala. I've had road bikes since I was 14. Now, at 53 I put about 3 times the miles per year on the bike than I do the car. Riding definitely makes you a better driver. If you aren't hyper attentive every ride on a bike that ride might be your last.

[UncleCyrus]

The traffic problems on NW Expressway were one of the main reasons we moved out of a very nice NW OKC neighborhood. In addition to the traffic issues were the "Fast and Furious" style motorcycle races every weekend at 1:00 AM. I like where we live now, but I still miss my great neighbors over there.

[LakeEffect]

This list is going to change due to City Council's requests for further information... Don't put much stock into it.

The list was a simple compilation of total collision data - NOT modified by Average Daily Traffic count nor by accident severity, and it also did not take into account pedestrian safety.

NW Expressway has many accidents because it's a very busy street. Wait until PW revises the list to make any further judgments.

[Teo9969]

For how many cars NWExpressway sees every day, I'd garner that it has less accidents per capita than many other streets.

And because of the nature of OKC streets (grid, with only occasional outliers) I don't know that you can really blame the streets for accidents that happen here. The worst intersection I deal with on a regular basis is 23rd/Western turning left off Western (either direction) because it's usually pretty busy and there are no arrows. And that's not that bad. Drivers just need to learn to pay better attention.

[Dubya61]

This list is going to change due to City Council's requests for further information... Don't put much stock into it.

The list was a simple compilation of total collision data - NOT modified by Average Daily Traffic count nor by accident severity, and it also did not take into account pedestrian safety.

NW Expressway has many accidents because it's a very busy street. Wait until PW revises the list to make any further judgments.

Does the list take into account interstates, or only city streets not affected by highway numbering?

[LakeEffect]

Does the list take into account interstates, or only city streets not affected by highway numbering?

This was done for the City, so I believe they left out interstates.

[warreng88]

OKC's top 10 most dangerous intersections:

1. N.W. Expressway and Belle Isle Blvd.
2. N.W. Expressway and Rockwell
3. N.W. Expressway and Portland
4. N.W. Expressway and N.W. 63rd St.
5. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (east side)
6. N.W. Expressway and Pennsylvania Ave.
7. N.W. 39th Expressway and Meridian
8. N. MacArthur and Reno Ave.
9. S. Western Ave. and S.W. 59th St.
10. N.W. Expressway and Lake Hefner Parkway (west side)

5 of these are within a mile of my house. The rest I travel through at least once a week. I agree about #1. They need to change it to make it safer.

I work at the IBC bank building on 63rd and Expressway and I drive through the intersection of Expressway and Portland twice, sometimes four times a day. After work I drive south on Portland and nine times out of ten AT LEAST four cars turn through the intersection going northbound on Portland to westbound on Expressway. I, personally, have almost gotten into three wrecks at that intersection because people roll through the light without any regard for who they are putting in danger. If you want to fix that intersection, it is very simple: instead of having a green light after the arrow, make it a red light and pull them over if they run it.