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Drivers, beware! A new report ranks the deadliest intersections in the United States and two of them are right here in Texas.
Fang Law Firm, a law firm based in Colorado, compiled a list of the country's most dangerous intersections using 20 years of crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "The Fang Law Firm mentioned there were two significant factors behind the country’s deadliest intersections," the report states. "First, most were secondary roads, usually state highways without limited access. These roads tend to have signaled or signed crossings with much slower local streets. It should be noted that the Fang Law Firm excluded crashes on highway interchanges, driveway exits, and pedestrian paths."
Furthermore, "rural areas with populations of less than 2,500 people had a disproportionally high amount of fatal crashes."
In Texas, the intersection of SH-360 and US-287 in Ellis County is one of the country's deadliest, coming in at No. 6 overall. Here's why:
There were seven fatal crashes at this intersection just south of the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex. The strange intersection includes an overpass for US-287, but drivers have to navigate through traffic signals to get on and off the U.S. highway.
The other deadly intersection in Texas is FM 866 and SH-302 in Ector County:
This rural intersection about 14 miles west of Odessa, Texas saw seven fatal crashes. While outside of the report’s range, there was another fatal crash at the intersection in June 2022. Both roads have a speed limit of at least 70 mph, and there’s only a set of stop signs for Farm to Market Road 866.