San Jose’s Most Dangerous Intersections

Traffic collisions are a leading cause of injury and death in San Jose. While collisions are a fact of life in major metro areas, are there areas in San Jose where drivers are at a higher risk of being involved in an intersection-related accident? What intersections are the most dangerous?

At Henshaw and Henry, we want to make a positive impact on community safety in our city. So, we worked with data visualization and analysis firm, 1Point21 Interactive to find out.

Together, we analyzed five years of California traffic collision data – over two million records in total – and isolated all crashes that occurred at an intersection in San Jose.

We found that from 2013 – 2017, there were nearly 8,000 intersection-related crashes in San Jose, leaving 103 people dead and another 10,118 people injured.

The 65 Most Dangerous Intersections in San Jose

After isolating all intersection crashes during this time period, we ranked each intersection using our Crash Index Score (a weighted score that takes crash volume and severity of injuries into account for each crossing). We found 65 intersections that scored 50 or higher, nearly five times the average CIS for all 4471 intersections where a crash occurred.

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Rank Street 1 Street 2 Neighborhood Crashes Fatalities Injuries Severe Injuries CIS 1 Mclaughlin Av Story Rd Ferrari Pinoche 34 0 45 2 189 2 Almaden Expwy Blossom Hill Rd South San Jose 18 0 33 1 131 3 Capitol Expwy Ocala Av Alum Rock 12 1 26 3 128 4 Blossom Hill Rd Winfield Bl Edenvale 19 1 29 2 128 5 Quimby Rd Tully Rd East San Jose 18 0 34 1 128 6 Rt 101 Tully Rd San Jose 31 0 29 1 122 7 Blossom Hill Rd Monterey Rd Cambrian 21 0 28 1 117 8 Capitol Expwy Senter Rd South San Jose 14 0 26 1 104 9 Senter Rd Tully Rd South San Jose 17 0 20 1 101 10 Capitol Expwy Story Rd Alum Rock 17 0 21 2 94 11 King Rd Story Rd Alum Rock 16 0 21 0 93 12 Capitol Expwy Quimby Rd Evergreen 15 0 21 0 90 13 Oakland Rd Rt 101 San Jose 18 0 19 1 89 14 Roberts Av Story Rd Central San Jose 12 0 19 0 87 15 Leigh Av Parkmoor Av Central San Jose 13 0 21 1 86 16 Bird Av Rt 280 Auzerais – Josefa 23 0 18 0 85 17 King Rd Tully Rd East San Jose 17 1 17 1 84 18 Capitol Expwy Tully Rd Evergreen 13 0 21 0 84 19 Monterey Rd Senter Rd Edenvale 15 0 20 0 83 20 Huran Dr Tully Rd Evergreen 14 0 18 2 82 21 Capitol Expwy Monterey Rd South San Jose 12 0 20 0 82 22 Leigh Av Southwest Expwy Barbera – Stokes 10 0 17 3 81 23 Blossom Hill Rd Snell Av Edenvale 17 0 19 0 80 24 Monterey Rd Tully Rd South San Jose 11 0 16 2 79 25 Capitol Av Capitol Expwy Alum Rock 8 2 13 1 77 26 Cottle Rd Rt 85 Edenvale 13 0 18 0 75 27 Almaden Expwy Cherry Av Edenvale 12 1 16 0 74 28 E Capitol Expwy Quimby Rd Evergreen 11 0 17 1 74 29 Branham Ln Snell Av Hayes 12 0 17 1 71 30 Brokaw Rd Rt 880 Berryessa 13 0 17 0 70 31 E Capitol Expwy Senter Rd South San Jose 8 0 17 0 69 32 Capitol Av Mckee Rd Alum Rock 13 0 16 0 69 33 Rt 280 S 10Th St East Campus 14 1 14 0 68 34 Almaden Expwy Rt 85 San Jose 14 0 15 1 67 35 Rt 280 Saratoga Av Santa Clara 15 0 14 1 67 36 Foxworthy Av Meridian Av Willow Glen 10 0 17 0 67 37 Monterey Rd Skyway Dr Havens 11 0 16 0 67 38 Lucretia Av Story Rd Central San Jose 10 0 16 1 64 39 South King Rd Tully Rd East San Jose 8 0 15 0 63 40 Aborn Rd Nieman Bl Evergreen 10 1 12 1 62 41 Branham Ln Camden Av Branham – Kirk 11 0 13 2 62 42 Four Oaks Rd Hostetter Rd Flickinger North 11 0 12 1 61 43 Capitol Expwy Rt 101 South San Jose 16 0 15 0 61 44 Alum Rock Av Jackson Av Alum Rock 11 0 15 0 60 45 Mclaughlin Av Rt 280 Bonita – 24th 12 0 14 0 60 46 Almaden Expwy Foxworthy Av South San Jose 9 1 12 0 59 47 Monterey Rd Umbarger Rd South San Jose 7 0 14 1 59 48 Aborn Rd Capitol Expwy Brigadoon 10 0 12 1 58 49 South King Rd Story Rd Alum Rock 10 0 14 0 58 50 Branham Ln Monterey Rd Edenvale 8 0 12 0 58 51 Fruitdale Av Southwest Expwy Willow Glen 10 0 15 0 57 52 Leigh Av Moorpark Av Rose Glen 9 0 14 0 57 53 Curtner Av Monterey Rd South San Jose 10 0 11 1 55 54 Blossom Hill Rd Lean Av Anderson East 8 0 13 0 55 55 Camden Av Leigh Av Willow Glen 9 1 11 0 54 56 Capitol Expwy Nieman Bl Evergreen 8 0 12 1 54 57 Adrian Wy Story Rd Cassell 10 0 12 0 54 58 Blossom Hill Rd Entrada Cedros Edenvale 10 0 13 0 53 59 Rt 680 South King Rd Alum Rock 11 0 11 1 52 60 Curtner Av Lincoln Av Willow Glen 6 0 14 0 52 61 Rt 101 Yerba Buena Rd Evergreen 10 0 10 0 52 62 Monterey Rd Stauffer Bl South San Jose 7 1 8 1 51 63 San Tomas Expy Stevens Creek Blvd Santa Clara 8 0 11 2 51 64 Moorpark Av Saratoga Av West Valley 11 0 12 0 51 65 Auzerais Av Lincoln Av Central San Jose 8 1 8 1 50

*In cases where two or more intersections have the same CIS, ties are broken by fatality and severe injury volume.

Mclaughlin Avenue and Story Road: The Most Dangerous Intersection in San Jose

Based on our Crash Index Score, the crossing of Mclaughlin Avenue and Story Road in Ferrari Pinoche is the most dangerous intersection in all of San Jose. While no fatalities occurred here, the intersection led the way in both total crashes (34) and total injuries (45).

Intersection Crashes by Neighborhood in San Jose

Which neighborhoods have the most intersection-related crashes?

Alum Rock led the way by far with 1,042 crashes and 1,399 injuries across 592 intersections – followed by Central San Jose (836 crashes), South San Jose (762 crashes), Edenvale (619 crashes) and Evergreen (416 crashes).

The highest number of fatalities occurred in South San Jose, however, with 19 total deaths during the five year study period.

Data and Methodology

Our study sourced data from the California Highway Patrol’s SWITRS database for the years 2013-2017. We analyzed the data and isolated all records that occurred in San Jose and were considered intersection-related. We removed those that occurred on a highway on or off ramp.

Our rankings and lists are based on crash volume and injury and death volume. The Crash Index Score was calculated by assigning weights to the crashes themselves as well as the severity of injuries: fatalities, severe injuries, visible injuries, and pain complaints.

These data and our rankings do not take exposure and traffic volume into account.

Henshaw and Henry welcomes those who report on these findings to use any and all data or visual elements. Please link to this study page to give credit to our team and to allow readers to access the full report.