Santa Rosa's intersection of Highway 12 and Mission Boulevard in Rincon Valley was last year's most dangerous intersection in the city based on number of reported collision. Click to enlarge. Road Warrior photo
There’s a new No. 1 in Santa Rosa when it comes to being the city’s most dangerous intersection: Highway 12 at Mission Boulevard.
With 18 reported collisions last year, it dethroned Stony Point Road at Sebastopol Road, which had been the city’s most collision-prone intersection for two years in a row. But last year Stony Point-Sebastopol had 8 crashes, down from 20 in 2010 and 19 in 2009.
Highway 12-Mission ranked No. 2 both in 2010 with 17 collisions and 16 in 2009, according to annual reports from Santa Rosa police.
Officer Jeff Adams, who oversees the Police Department’s program that focuses on problem intersections, said he nothing definite stands out about Highway  12-Mission that would make it No. 1, noting there haven’t been any structural changes to it in recent years that would make it less safe.
He said if officers discover a structural cause — signs, painting of lines, turn lanes, etc. — then they meet with the city’s traffic engineering office to try to resolve it.
Highway 12-Mission is one of the city’s more heavily traveled intersections, and perhaps that’s a factor. More cars, more chances of collisions.
The Road Warrior staked out the intersection for a while one afternoon last week and didn’t see anything obvious. Some drivers pushed the yellow light a bit but no one clearly ran a red. And, of course, there were a few drivers holding their cellphones, and that’s always a distraction for drivers.
The Police Department’s ranking of intersections is based on the number of collisions in which police take a report. If a collision is minor and the drivers don’t seek a report, then the crash isn’t counted in the statistics.
Later this week we’ll list the other top dangerous intersections in Santa Rosa, so please check back.
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