The 10 most dangerous intersections in Thunder Bay

THUNDER BAY -- Motorists looking for the safest driving routes in Thunder Bay may want to avoid the Harbour Expressway.

According to data obtained by Tbnewswatch from the Thunder Bay Police Service, three of the most dangerous intersections in the city are along the Harbour Expressway.

In 2016, the harbour route's intersection with Memorial Avenue led all other locations in Thunder Bay for the number of motor vehicle collisions, with a total of 21.

Memorial Avenue at Central Avenue was a close second, with 20 collisions, followed in order by the Harbour Expressway at Golf Links Road, and the Harbour Expressway at Balmoral Street in a fourth-place tie with the intersection of Oliver Road and Golf Links Road.

Two intersections on Arthur Street  (at May Street and at Mountdale Avenue)  are among the remainder of the ten worst accident locations.

Acting Sergeant Gordon Snyder says it's not a big surprise to see Harbour Expressway intersections at the top of the list, partly because it has a higher speed limit than other routes in the city.  "It's one of our highest-volume roadways...so we'd expect a higher number of collisions.  With the higher speeds come more collisions as well, unfortunately."

Snyder said police analyze collision statistics and put them to use. "We also look with some more detail into the types of collisions that are occurring."

He said that it's common to see rear-end collisions or, within intersections, turning violations and red-light violations, and police use that data to conduct enforcement blitzes or education initiatives.

"If we see a high number of collisions within the intersection due to turning violations, for example, we will specifically focus on that type of infraction in order to curb the problem and hopefully reduce the collisions."

Crashes by intersection: