Lane Avenue and state Route 315 ramps ranked No. 4 on a list of the 21 intersections with the most accidents, according to the Columbus Division of Police. Combined, these ramps had 36 accidents.
The Lane Avenue and Kenny Road intersection ranked No. 9 with 28 accidents.
Polaris Parkway and Interstate 71 topped the list with 43 accidents. The Hamilton Road and Interstate 70 ramps ranked No. 2 with 37 accidents and Henderson and Olentangy River roads made the bottom of the list with only 20 accidents.
These are the places where the most accidents occur, but traffic volume and other causes have not been factored into this list, said the city’s assistant director of public service, Mary Webster.
“The list that we release later will take an engineering standpoint and use police reports to determine the number of accidents and the volume of traffic to determine an accident rate. The actual accident rate for Franklin County is low and these high crash locations that made this list possibly won’t make our list of the most dangerous intersections,” Webster said.
Polaris Parkway may not even make the list since there were 43 accidents in 2002 – less then the number of cars that drove through this intersection daily.
Webster said the Columbus police wanted this information so they could target speeding and reckless driving at these intersections where these crashes occur. The list is used for enforcement purposes only.
“Every accident is very different, but the only cause that is consistent is speeding,” Webster said. “The police will use this list to catch cars that are speeding at these intersections, but these are not the most dangerous intersections.”
Sherry Mercurio, spokeswoman for the Columbus police, said the officers will use this list to determine where they should place manpower to ensure more safety.
“These intersections are so dangerous because of speeding,” Mercurio said. Officers will be at these intersections throughout the day to catch traffic violators.”
“Lane Avenue and Kenny Road is probably one of the busiest intersections that is closest to campus, so I could see why there are so many accidents there.” said Hilary Newcomer, a senior in human development and family science. “However, I didn’t know that ramps that enter and exit the highway are locations with such a large number of crashes.”
Newcomer said officers should increase enforcement at those intersections.
“I would take a speeding ticket any day over getting into an accident, where I might get hurt or I might hurt or kill someone else,” Newcomer said.
