The intersection of North Park Street and University Avenue became Madison’s fourth-worst intersection for crashes last year, according to a recent report.
The intersection was ranked the fourth most dangerous in the 2001 Crash Report with 16 crashes, a drop from its No. 1 spot in 2000.
Tom Walsh, a Department of Transportation traffic engineer, said most of the intersection’s crashes were between vehicles, with one or two bike accidents.
“The most common accidents involved drivers failing to yield the right of way, drivers gunning through a yellow light or bikers running a red light,” Walsh said.
The report revealed that 50 percent of all accidents in Madison resulted from failure to yield the right of way.
Capt. George Silverwood, overseer of the police’s Traffic Enforcement and Safety Team, said the campus’ accident track record is pretty good, but bike and car collisions are a problem.
“The most common accident in the campus area is a vehicle’s left turn in front of a bike,” Silverwood said. “Frankly, you have to bike defensively.”
Ald. Linda Bellman, District 1, of the Ped/Bike/Motor Vehicle Commission, said the commission, the police and the Division of Traffic Engineering use the crash-report data to improve Madison’s roadways. She said one improvement made is on Madison’s bike paths.
“Madison has done a good job with creating bike trails and encouraging their use,” Bellman said. “We are fine-tuning the bike paths around Camp Randall, but a bigger bike problem is further into the isthmus.”
She said areas that integrate workers and students in traffic are dangerous for bikers.
“Young people are in a disproportionate number of accidents,” Bellman said. “They just have to be super-alert of their environment, not dart in and out of traffic and assume motorists don’t see them.”
Walsh said the North Park Street and University Avenue intersection’s crash rate reflects its high concentration of vehicles, pedestrians and bikers.
“The total number of crashes in Madison is down, especially considering the amount of traffic,” Walsh said. “I would like to think our safety improvement and enforcement programs have had a positive effect.”
Silverwood said the number of police citations in the last three or four years has risen substantially, with police tending to focus on traffic signal and speeding violations.
“If we can reduce the speed, we can at least reduce the severity of the crash,” Silverwood said.
Four of the seven crash fatalities involved alcohol, according to the report.
Walsh said the overall statistics showed alcohol and seatbelt use were the most problematic factors in severe accidents. He said Wisconsin drivers statistically wear their seatbelts less than drivers in other states.
Silverwood said an explanation for less seatbelt use is that Wisconsin police cannot stop someone solely for not wearing a seatbelt, but he thought that would change in the coming years. He said the number of fatalities in Wisconsin would have been reduced had drivers worn seatbelts.
“If one thing would be my wish, it would be for everybody to wear safety belts,” Silverwood said.
