John and Main tops the list of Hamilton's most dangerous intersections for pedestrians

John Street South and Main Street East topped the list for most dangerous intersections for pedestrians last year, with five cases of death or injury there.

A new report from city transportation staff shows several other lower-city intersections right behind it on the list: Main Street East and Wentworth Street South and Main Street East at Victoria Avenue South. The most dangerous intersection for pedestrians on the Mountain was Larch Street at Upper Ottawa.

City council's public works committee examined the numbers on Wednesday, when Edward Soldo, director of transportation operations and maintenance, laid out five-year trends for road collisions.

The report shows that collisions overall were up, with 9,876 crashes last year compared to 8,385 in 2015. But it also showed the crashes that are happening, on balance, are less severe. There were 1,477 deaths or injuries last year compared to 1,945 in 2015.

Fourteen people died in crashes, which is the same number as 2015, the report says. Six were pedestrians.

The report also shows the city's investment in bike lanes is paying off. When it comes to car-versus-cyclist collisions, there were only 128 crashes in 2019 compared to 193 in 2016.

The decrease in traffic injuries is good news, Soldo said. "In overall terms, collisions are trending towards being less severe."

As for the reduction in car-versus-cyclist crashes, this is likely because the city has built "75 lane-kilometres" of bike lanes in the past five years, he said, and about 14 per cent of those include a buffer between bicycles and motor vehicles.

Here's a list of the intersections that saw the highest number of death or injury in 2019, including car crashes:

• John Street South at Main Street East (12). 
• Main Street East at Victoria Avenue South (8). 
• North Service Road at Ramp North Service to QEW Toronto (6).
• Mohawk Road at Upper Wellington (6).
• Stone Church Road East at Upper James (6).
• Regional Road 56 at Rymal Road East (5).
• Main Street East at Wentworth Street South (5).
• King Street East at Victoria Avenue South (5).
• Paramount Drive at Winterberry Drive (5).
• Charlton Avenue West at Hess Street South (5).
• Fennell Avenue East at Upper Wellington Street (5).
• Main Street East at Wellington Street South (5).
• Mohawk Road West at Upper James Street (5).

The report also showed Main and Dundurn is the most dangerous intersection over the last five years, with 27 crashes causing death or injury since 2015. 

Other highlights:

• Most vehicle crashes (72.4 per cent) happen on dry surfaces, while 20.1 per cent happened when the road was wet, and 7.1 per cent when it was covered in snow and ice. More wet pavement collisions happened on the Red Hill Valley Parkway (64.1 per cent). There is currently a judicial inquiry into a 2013 report saying the pavement in some areas were below UK safety standards. The city resurfaced much of the road last year.
• Of the crashes, 35.6 per cent were single vehicle. Rear-end crashes accounted for 29.6 per cent of collisions, followed by side swiping. More than half of car crashes happen at intersections.
• The most common months for crashes were November to January. As for fatal and injury crashes, the most common months were June, July, September and October. 
• Since 2015, the number of collisions involving pedestrians has fluctuated between 245 and 295 in the past five years. Last year was the lowest year with 245.
• Distracted driving was a contributing factor to 16.6 per cent of fatal and injury collisions. Speeding accounted for 18 per cent, while drugs and alcohol were a factor in 2.6 per cent of them.
• On the Lincoln Alexander Parkway, speed was a factor in 56 per cent of the crashes, and on the Red Hill Valley Parkway, 37.5 per cent.