Top 10 vehicle crash intersections in Langley City have a few things in common

One of the comments that I receive regularly from people in Langley City when it comes to traffic safety is the request to install traffic lights and four-way stops to increase safety. I also received comments from people telling me that they believe that building narrower streets, tighter intersections, and roundabouts decrease the safety of Langley City streets. One the surface, this makes sense. The more uncomfortable a road feels to drive and the less certainty of who has the right of way, the more unsafe the road should be, right?

The following list from the most recent 2017 ICBC data shows intersections with the highest number of crashes that involve motor vehicles in Langley City.

Intersection	Crashes
Langley Bypass @ Fraser Highway	130
Langley Bypass @ 200th Street	112
Langley Bypass @ 56th Avenue	77
200 Street @ Fraser Highway	67
Langley Bypass @ Glover Road	55
Langley Bypass/208th @ Fraser Highway	52
Langley Bypass 204th Street Turn Lane	34
Fraser Highway @ Glover Road	31
200 Street @ Logan Avenue	24
203rd Street @ 56 Avenue	23

There are some common design elements of these intersections. They have higher traffic volumes, traffic lights, higher speeds, and turn lanes. When driving through one of these intersections, most people feel completely safe and 100% certain of who has the right of way.

Intersections of wide roads with traffic lights are dangerous because of human nature. The safer we feel, the more likely we are to act in an unsafe manner. For example, would you send a text message while driving down the Fraser Highway One-Way? How about when driving along Highway One?

A good example is 203rd Street, the regular intersection with traffic lights at 56th Avenue, Fraser Highway, and Logan Avenue have a higher number of crashes. The section of 203rd Street south of 56th Avenue is one of the safest sections of road in Langley City. Even with its higher traffic volume, it is designed in such a way that people feel less comfortable driving. When people feel less comfortable driving, they drive safer.

This intersection of 56th Avenue/Douglas Crescent and 203rd Street had 23 crashes in 2017.

This complex section of 203rd Street, just south of 56th Avenue up to and including the Langley Mall pedestrian signal had 1 crash in 2017.

One of the best ways to increase road safety is to get people to drive slower and more cautiously. For more information about this, please check out a post I wrote about Vision Zero which outlines how to reduce road transportation crashes and fatalities.

Just a note, I posted in the past about why a four-way stop is not a great tool for traffic calming or to increase safety.