AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Although Sunday's traffic disasters can be blamed on the weather, there are some places in Amarillo that see a few more accidents than most, even on a sunny day.
The Amarillo Police Department has released their list for 2011's Most Dangerous Intersections in the city.
"The majority of these accidents are going to be west and probably south Amarillo," said Corporal Jerry Neufeld with the Amarillo Police Department. "But then again, I think that's just indicative of where the vast majority of our population is."
Intersections with Interstate 40 landed on the list several times, taking the Number One spot at I-40 and Coulter with 18 accidents just last year. The intersection of Coulter and Hillside road took the Number Two Most Dangerous Crossing title with 12 accidents.
"You're going to have a few of these where people will have a rear-end collision but probably the majority of them are going to be red light violations," said Corporal Neufeld.
After APD compiled the list, the information was passed along to the Amarillo Traffic Division where employees reviewed the list and looked for ways to reduce the number of wrecks at each intersection.
"They look through the list and look at it in terms of what they do like sign and marking versus signal timing versus something else," said Amarillo Traffic Engineer, Taylor Withrow. "We get back together and just brainstorm, what can we do to improve the situation?"
Withrow said changes, if any, might include things like adjusting signal lights and timing but even that may not guarantee fewer accidents.
"If we're putting in delayed reds and longer yellows, people say well I know I've got an extra second and so that's just going to catch up and we're going to be in the same boat we're in now," added Neufeld.
"There's not much we can do," said Withrow.
Some intersections that made this year's list aren't newcomers either. Many have made APD's list year after year and it's those, Withrow told Pronews 7, they make sure to keep a close eye on for necessary changes.
So unless you want to become a statistic, around these dangerous intersection (and all others) remember, yellow means slow down -- not speed up.
"What it really comes back to," Neufeld said, "people need to be a lot more attentive to their driving."
APD: 2011's Most Dangerous Intersections
1) South Coulter Street and West Interstate 40, 18 accidents
2) South Coulter Street and Hillside Road, 12 accidents
3) South Georgia Street and West Interstate 40, 10
4) South Bell Street and West Interstate 40, 10 accidents
5)West Interstate 40 and South Western Street, 9 accidents
6) Plains Boulevard and South Western Street, 9 accidents
7) South Bell Street and Canyon Drive, 8 accidents
8) West Amarillo Boulevard and Tascosa Road, 8 accidents
9) East Interstate 40 and Ross Street, 8 accidents
10) East Amarillo Boulevard and North Pierce Street, 7 accidents
