Most dangerous intersections in Upstate SC
You see the wreckage and sometimes even get stuck in the traffic headache afterward but would you change your route if you knew there was a safer way?
We worked with the South Caroline Department of Public Safety to crunch crash statistics, analyze the traffic count in the Upstate for the last 5 years and show you the intersections where you’re most likely to get in a wreck.
The SC Highway Patrol say crashes can happen in a split second and nearly always result from distracted driving.
“The extreme majority of collisions all boil down to operator error and we can go right back to the reason people are dying in SC,” said Corporal Bill Rhyne of the SCHP.
Our research showed that the busiest places aren’t always the most dangerous and some of the top ten were surprising to many.
“There’s a lot going on; its very different than Interstate 85 and everything going in the same direction at 65 mph, said Rhyne”.
Here’s the list of the top 10 most dangerous intersections in the Upstate.
Intersections In Anderson County showed up most often at four.
1- South Main Street and West Shockley Ferry Road.
2- White Hall Road At Pearman Dairy Road.
3- 25 Bypass At Highway 221 In Greenwood County.
4- Highway 72 And Highway 56 In Laurens County.
5- Pearman Dairy Road at West Whitner Street in Anderson County
6- White Horse Road At West Blue Ridge Drive In Greenville County
7- Shockley Ferry Road And South Murray Avenue In Anderson County
8- WO Ezell Boulevard And Blackstock Road in Spartanburg County
9- East North Street At North Pleasantburg Drive in Greenville County
10-White Horse Road At Anderson Road in Greenville County
Most of the intersections have two lanes of traffic, turning lanes and congestion. Troopers said this means greater risk of a fender bender.
Some intersections are near schools. Number 4 is located near Clinton High School, Number 5 near Lakeside Middle School and number 9 near Bob Jones University.
Of these schools, the most common reason for the crashes was failure to yield the right of way.
Clinton High principal Maureen Tiller said parents and administrators are aware of the issue nearby.
“We noticed it for a while, brought it up with our school improvement council, talked with council and they asked that we asked the district to look into another study and see what could be done about it, said Tiller.
Tiller also said most of the accidents she was seeing were happening at drop off time in the early morning.
The school increased the time where students may arrive at school so they could participate in extracurricular activities. She said this adjustment worked to reduce crashes and congestion.
The school asked SC Department Of Transportation to do a study on the intersection at Highway 56 and 72. The DOT found the intersection was doing what it was designed to do but the school could add someone to direct traffic during busy times as a safety precaution.
A spokesperson from Bob Jones University said they always encourage safe driving and are well aware of dangerous intersections in the area. School administrators for Lakeside Middle in Anderson also said they’ve adjusted the route some students take to a nearby career center to avoid turning at the nearby intersection.
“We don’t want any part of that intersection whether it’s part of the main entrance or any entrance being designated unsafe for our students,” Tiller said.
