Seven Santa Clarita intersections on list of state’s most dangerous

A young man crosses the street as traffic moves through the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Whites Canyon Road in November. Katharine Lotze/Signal
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One week ago, 49-year-old Patti Rhode was struck and killed by a Sedan traveling down Sierra Highway, one of the city’s most dangerous stretches of land.

Two weeks earlier on Oct. 24, 9-year-old Anakaren Galvan was struck and killed in the intersection at Orchard Village and Wiley Canyon Road.

Traffic accidents and pedestrian-involved collisions at popular intersections are not a rarity in Santa Clarita and, according to a new study, are not uncommon occurrences in Los Angeles County either.

While the region’s ‘danger’ scores were lower than state averages – the city did show up as having a higher average number of accidents.

Study

A new study from Estey & Bomberger, a personal injury law firm, found that more than 90 percent of the state’s most dangerous intersections are in Southern California, nearly half are in Los Angeles County and seven are located here in Santa Clarita.

To gather the data, the firm studied analyzed more than 435,000 traffic collisions recorded by the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) in 2015.  The firm took into account total crashes, injuries and fatalities to identify and rank intersections with 10 or more accidents throughout the year.

A total of 444 intersections, with 7,294 crashes, 7,478 injuries and 57 fatalities, were included in the “Most Dangerous Intersections in California” data-driven report.

Intersections in the report were ranked with a formula that multiplied the number of accidents by one, the number of injuries by three and the number of fatalities by 10 to provide an overall “Danger Score.”

 

Traffic moves through the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Whites Canyon Road on Monday. Katharine Lotze/Signal
Traffic moves through the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Whites Canyon Road on Monday. Katharine Lotze/Signal

Intersections in the report were ranked with a formula that multiplied the number of accidents by one, the number of injuries by three and the number of fatalities by 10 to provide an overall “Danger Score.”

Local intersections

The most dangerous stretches of roadway locally included Sierra Highway, Soledad Canyon Road, McBean Parkway, Newhall Ranch Road, Bouquet Canyon Road, Seco Canyon Road, Langside Avenue and Whites Canyon Road.

In Santa Clarita, the most dangerous intersection – according to the report – was at Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road.  It ranked No. 54 on the list.  Although the location had no traffic fatalities, it saw 56 incidents – 40 crashes and 16 injuries in 2015, giving it a score of 88.

The next intersection, recording 39 incidents, at McBean Parkway and Newhall Ranch Road, came in at No. 189 on the list with 26 crashes, 13 injuries and a score of 65.

Next was the only intersection with a recorded fatality in the survey: Bouquet Canyon Road and Seco Canyon Road.  It is the location where 14-year-old Wyatt Savaikie was struck and killed by the driver of an SUV as he crossed the street July 16, 2015.

The intersection had 34 incidents, receiving a total score of 65 and the placement of No. 191 for its 22 crashes, one death and 11 injuries.

Tying with a total score of 65 for 31 incidents was the intersection Langside Avenue and Soledad Canyon Road.  At No. 200 the location saw 14 crashes and 17 injuries – the most injuries for any intersection in the city.

Not far behind was the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Whites Canyon Road at No. 236 with 38 incidents including 26 crashes, 12 injuries. It scored 62.

The final two intersections, Bouquet Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon Road, and Bouquet Canyon Road and Newhall Ranch Road, are further down the list at No. 403 and No. 423 with scores of 52 and 51 respectively.

Compared to the statewide danger score average of 68.24, Santa Clarita had lower scores at all of its location except one: Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road.

However, the city’s average number of accidents, 24.43, was an average of eight accidents higher than the state’s average of 16.43.

 

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