Traffic collisions are a leading cause of injury and death in San Jose. While collisions are a fact of life in major metro areas, are there areas in San Jose where drivers are at a higher risk of being involved in an intersection-related accident? What intersections are the most dangerous?
At Henshaw and Henry, we want to make a positive impact on community safety in our city. So, we worked with data visualization and analysis firm, 1Point21 Interactive to find out.
Together, we analyzed five years of California traffic collision data – over two million records in total – and isolated all crashes that occurred at an intersection in San Jose.
We found that from 2013 – 2017, there were nearly 8,000 intersection-related crashes in San Jose, leaving 103 people dead and another 10,118 people injured.
After isolating all intersection crashes during this time period, we ranked each intersection using our Crash Index Score (a weighted score that takes crash volume and severity of injuries into account for each crossing). We found 65 intersections that scored 50 or higher, nearly five times the average CIS for all 4471 intersections where a crash occurred.
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| Rank | Street 1 | Street 2 | Neighborhood | Crashes | Fatalities | Injuries | Severe Injuries | CIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mclaughlin Av | Story Rd | Ferrari Pinoche | 34 | 0 | 45 | 2 | 189 |
| 2 | Almaden Expwy | Blossom Hill Rd | South San Jose | 18 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 131 |
| 3 | Capitol Expwy | Ocala Av | Alum Rock | 12 | 1 | 26 | 3 | 128 |
| 4 | Blossom Hill Rd | Winfield Bl | Edenvale | 19 | 1 | 29 | 2 | 128 |
| 5 | Quimby Rd | Tully Rd | East San Jose | 18 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 128 |
| 6 | Rt 101 | Tully Rd | San Jose | 31 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 122 |
| 7 | Blossom Hill Rd | Monterey Rd | Cambrian | 21 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 117 |
| 8 | Capitol Expwy | Senter Rd | South San Jose | 14 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 104 |
| 9 | Senter Rd | Tully Rd | South San Jose | 17 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 101 |
| 10 | Capitol Expwy | Story Rd | Alum Rock | 17 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 94 |
| 11 | King Rd | Story Rd | Alum Rock | 16 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 93 |
| 12 | Capitol Expwy | Quimby Rd | Evergreen | 15 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 90 |
| 13 | Oakland Rd | Rt 101 | San Jose | 18 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 89 |
| 14 | Roberts Av | Story Rd | Central San Jose | 12 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 87 |
| 15 | Leigh Av | Parkmoor Av | Central San Jose | 13 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 86 |
| 16 | Bird Av | Rt 280 | Auzerais – Josefa | 23 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 85 |
| 17 | King Rd | Tully Rd | East San Jose | 17 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 84 |
| 18 | Capitol Expwy | Tully Rd | Evergreen | 13 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 84 |
| 19 | Monterey Rd | Senter Rd | Edenvale | 15 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 83 |
| 20 | Huran Dr | Tully Rd | Evergreen | 14 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 82 |
| 21 | Capitol Expwy | Monterey Rd | South San Jose | 12 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 82 |
| 22 | Leigh Av | Southwest Expwy | Barbera – Stokes | 10 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 81 |
| 23 | Blossom Hill Rd | Snell Av | Edenvale | 17 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 80 |
| 24 | Monterey Rd | Tully Rd | South San Jose | 11 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 79 |
| 25 | Capitol Av | Capitol Expwy | Alum Rock | 8 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 77 |
| 26 | Cottle Rd | Rt 85 | Edenvale | 13 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 75 |
| 27 | Almaden Expwy | Cherry Av | Edenvale | 12 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 74 |
| 28 | E Capitol Expwy | Quimby Rd | Evergreen | 11 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 74 |
| 29 | Branham Ln | Snell Av | Hayes | 12 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 71 |
| 30 | Brokaw Rd | Rt 880 | Berryessa | 13 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 70 |
| 31 | E Capitol Expwy | Senter Rd | South San Jose | 8 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 69 |
| 32 | Capitol Av | Mckee Rd | Alum Rock | 13 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 69 |
| 33 | Rt 280 | S 10Th St | East Campus | 14 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 68 |
| 34 | Almaden Expwy | Rt 85 | San Jose | 14 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 67 |
| 35 | Rt 280 | Saratoga Av | Santa Clara | 15 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 67 |
| 36 | Foxworthy Av | Meridian Av | Willow Glen | 10 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 67 |
| 37 | Monterey Rd | Skyway Dr | Havens | 11 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 67 |
| 38 | Lucretia Av | Story Rd | Central San Jose | 10 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 64 |
| 39 | South King Rd | Tully Rd | East San Jose | 8 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 63 |
| 40 | Aborn Rd | Nieman Bl | Evergreen | 10 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 62 |
| 41 | Branham Ln | Camden Av | Branham – Kirk | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 62 |
| 42 | Four Oaks Rd | Hostetter Rd | Flickinger North | 11 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 61 |
| 43 | Capitol Expwy | Rt 101 | South San Jose | 16 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 61 |
| 44 | Alum Rock Av | Jackson Av | Alum Rock | 11 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 60 |
| 45 | Mclaughlin Av | Rt 280 | Bonita – 24th | 12 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 60 |
| 46 | Almaden Expwy | Foxworthy Av | South San Jose | 9 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 59 |
| 47 | Monterey Rd | Umbarger Rd | South San Jose | 7 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 59 |
| 48 | Aborn Rd | Capitol Expwy | Brigadoon | 10 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 58 |
| 49 | South King Rd | Story Rd | Alum Rock | 10 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 58 |
| 50 | Branham Ln | Monterey Rd | Edenvale | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 58 |
| 51 | Fruitdale Av | Southwest Expwy | Willow Glen | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 57 |
| 52 | Leigh Av | Moorpark Av | Rose Glen | 9 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 57 |
| 53 | Curtner Av | Monterey Rd | South San Jose | 10 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 55 |
| 54 | Blossom Hill Rd | Lean Av | Anderson East | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 55 |
| 55 | Camden Av | Leigh Av | Willow Glen | 9 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 54 |
| 56 | Capitol Expwy | Nieman Bl | Evergreen | 8 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 54 |
| 57 | Adrian Wy | Story Rd | Cassell | 10 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 54 |
| 58 | Blossom Hill Rd | Entrada Cedros | Edenvale | 10 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 53 |
| 59 | Rt 680 | South King Rd | Alum Rock | 11 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 52 |
| 60 | Curtner Av | Lincoln Av | Willow Glen | 6 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 52 |
| 61 | Rt 101 | Yerba Buena Rd | Evergreen | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 52 |
| 62 | Monterey Rd | Stauffer Bl | South San Jose | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 51 |
| 63 | San Tomas Expy | Stevens Creek Blvd | Santa Clara | 8 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 51 |
| 64 | Moorpark Av | Saratoga Av | West Valley | 11 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 51 |
| 65 | Auzerais Av | Lincoln Av | Central San Jose | 8 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 50 |
*In cases where two or more intersections have the same CIS, ties are broken by fatality and severe injury volume.
Based on our Crash Index Score, the crossing of Mclaughlin Avenue and Story Road in Ferrari Pinoche is the most dangerous intersection in all of San Jose. While no fatalities occurred here, the intersection led the way in both total crashes (34) and total injuries (45).
Which neighborhoods have the most intersection-related crashes?
Alum Rock led the way by far with 1,042 crashes and 1,399 injuries across 592 intersections – followed by Central San Jose (836 crashes), South San Jose (762 crashes), Edenvale (619 crashes) and Evergreen (416 crashes).
The highest number of fatalities occurred in South San Jose, however, with 19 total deaths during the five year study period.
Our study sourced data from the California Highway Patrol’s SWITRS database for the years 2013-2017. We analyzed the data and isolated all records that occurred in San Jose and were considered intersection-related. We removed those that occurred on a highway on or off ramp.
Our rankings and lists are based on crash volume and injury and death volume. The Crash Index Score was calculated by assigning weights to the crashes themselves as well as the severity of injuries: fatalities, severe injuries, visible injuries, and pain complaints.
These data and our rankings do not take exposure and traffic volume into account.
Henshaw and Henry welcomes those who report on these findings to use any and all data or visual elements. Please link to this study page to give credit to our team and to allow readers to access the full report.
