This post originally appeared on: https://www.garycjohnson.com/the-most-dangerous-intersections-in-fayette-county/.

In the United States, nearly a quarter of all traffic fatalities and roughly half of all traffic injuries occur at intersections.  Known as 'planned points of conflict', intersections are a perennial focus among local, state and federal organizations to improve and maintain road safety. With this in mind, how safe are our intersections in Lexington?  Where are motorists more likely to be injured in a traffic collision? With the help of 1Point21 Interactive, we examined three years of collision data from the Kentucky State Police to identify the most dangerous intersections in Lexington (and all of Fayette County).

Intersection Related Collisions Overview

From 2017 through 2019 (the latest full year available), there were 6,890 crashes that resulted in an injury or death in Fayette County, second only to Jefferson County with 15,623.   Nearly 35 percent of these crashes (2,374) were intersection-related - accounting for 3,518 injuries and 23 deaths.  Through this lens, it appears that, overall, intersections in Louisville and Fayette County are relatively safe when compared to the U.S. as a whole (the U.S. DOT estimates that half of all injury crashes occur at intersections).

[Interactive Map] Crashes at Fayette County Intersections

The map below shows all intersections in Fayette County where at least one collision occurred.   The larger the circle size, the more dangerous that intersection is, as circle size is determined by that crossing's CRS score. This map is interactive, zoom in and hover over each intersection to reveal more information.

The 50 Most Dangerous Intersections

Which intersection is most dangerous? We created a CRS index that weights collision and injury volume to rank each crossing where at least one injury or fatal collision occurred.  Below are the 50 most dangerous intersections in Lexington and Fayette County.

Rank	Road 1	Road 2	Crashes	Injuries	Fatalities	CRS
1	Broadway	New Circle Rd	18	31	0	192
2	Man O War Blvd	Nicholasville Rd	15	30	0	183.5
3	Clearwater / Belleau Wood Dr	Man O War Blvd	14	28	0	170.5
4	Man O War Blvd	Tates Creek Rd	14	28	0	168.5
5	Broadway	Red Mile Rd / Virginia Ave	16	25	0	158
6	Ash St / Loudon Ave	Newtown Pike	9	27	0	154
7	Athens Boonesboro Rd	Hays Blvd	10	24	1	153.5
8	Citation Blvd	Georgetown Rd	13	25	0	152
9	Broadway	Loudon Ave	18	21	0	142
10	Moore Dr	Nicholasville Rd	14	20	1	141.5
11	Limestone	Virginia Ave / Huguelet Dr	14	21	0	134.5
12	Broadway / Harrodsburg	Mason Headly / Waller Ave	14	21	0	134
13	Tates Creek Rd	Wilson Downing Rd / Appian Way	11	22	0	133.5
14	Eastland Dr	New Circle Rd	12	21	0	129
15	Bryan Station Rd / Bryan Ave	New Circle Rd	9	21	0	126.5
16	Lowry Ln	Nicholasville Rd	11	19	0	121
17	Ft Harrods Dr	Harrodsburg Rd	12	16	1	116.5
18	Blazer  Rio Dosa Dr	Man O War Blvd	12	18	0	114
19	New Circle Rd	Russell Cave Rd	12	13	2	114
20	Athens Boonesboro Rd	Richmond Rd	9	18	0	108.5
21	Coleman Ct	Newtown Pike	10	17	0	105
22	4Th St / Georgetown St.	Newtown Pike	9	16	0	100
T23	Broadway	Twelfth St	9	16	0	98.5
T23	Broadway	I75 S Exit113 On-Ramp From Us27	9	16	0	98.5
25	Man O War Blvd	Palumbo Dr	11	15	0	98.5
26	3Rd St	Upper St	8	16	0	97.5
27	Mason Headley Rd	Versailles Rd	9	16	0	97.5
28	Clays Mill Rd	Longview Dr	8	16	0	95.5
29	Harrodsburg Rd	Old Higbee Mill / Old Harrodsburg Rd	10	15	0	95
30	Broadway / Angliana	Foreman Ave	12	14	0	93.5
31	Locust Hill Dr	Richmond Rd	11	14	0	93.5
32	Eagle Creek Dr	Richmond Rd	9	15	0	93
33	Armstrong Mill Rd	Man O War Blvd	8	15	0	92
34	Liberty Rd	Star Shoot Pkwy	8	15	0	91.5
35	Radcliffe Rd	Russell Cave Rd	8	15	0	91
36	Man O War Blvd	Pleasant Ridge Dr	9	14	0	88.5
37	Citation Blvd	Greendale	6	15	0	87.5
38	Harrodsburg Rd	Wellington	8	14	0	87
39	Lansdowne Dr	Tates Creek Rd	7	12	1	86
40	Versailles Rd	Village Dr	10	13	0	84.5
41	Leestown Rd	Yarnallton Pike	8	13	0	82
42	Greendale Rd	Leestown Rd	6	11	1	80
43	Bob O Link	Harrodsburg Rd	7	13	0	79
44	Harrodsburg Rd	Lane Allen Rd	9	12	0	79
45	Mt Tabor Rd	Richmond Rd	9	12	0	78.5
46	Broadway	Vine St	9	12	0	78
47	Leestown Rd	Trade St	8	12	0	77
48	Ky4 Exit7 Ramp From Us421	Leestown Rd	8	12	0	76.5
48	Liberty Rd	New Circle Rd	8	12	0	76.5
50	Limestone	Loudon Ave	8	12	0	76

*In the event that a CRS score was the same for two or more intersections, ties were broken by fatality/injury/crash volume - in that order.  All of the five most dangerous intersections - and six of the top ten - involved either Broadway or Man O War Blvd.  These two streets were fixtures in the top 50: Broadway with eight crossings and Man O War with seven.

The Anatomy of Lexington Intersection Collisions

When compared with all collisions where Rear-end crashes are most common, those that occur at intersections are much more likely to involve angle and opposing left-turn collisions.   In fact, those are the two most common types of intersection crashes in Lexington.

• Angle Collisions: 1,136
• Opposing Left-turn: 408
• Rear-end: 370
• Single Vehicle: 311
• Sideswipe: 92

Intersection collisions occur most often in October, May, and November

• January: 176
• February: 167
• March: 175
• April: 187
• May: 231
• June: 181
• July: 203
• August: 283
• September: 233
• October: 257
• November: 216
• December: 172

Why This Matters?

As a personal injury law firm, we are passionate advocates for public safety.  We believe that empowering people with information can go a long way in that regard.  If people are aware of where collisions are more frequent, they may adjust their routes and driving behaviors around that knowledge.  If our report can help even one person avoid a serious collision or injury, it will all be worth it. When evaluating the data, it is important to understand that there are many factors that may lead to collisions including traffic volume, driver behavior, visibility and effectiveness of traffic control devices, road conditions, weather, and lighting to name a few.    Drivers can increase their odds of arriving at their destination safely by:

1. Refraining from distracted driving, including the use of cell phone, eating, or anything else that takes your attention from the road.
2. Obey all traffic laws and traffic signals.
3. Perform regular maintenance on your vehicle.  Worn tires or breaks can make it much more difficult to respond to sudden breaking in front of you, for example.
4. Drive defensively when possible.  You can't depend on other drivers to drive safely.  Being aware of potential hazards or erratic behavior from other drives is crucial.
5. Do not drink and drive.

Sources and Fair Use

This study uses injury and fatal crash data from the Kentucky State Police for the years 2017 - 2019.  Our rankings are based on collision and injury volume at a given intersection.   If you would like to report on or republish the data, maps, or information within, please link back to this page to provide credit to our firm.