10 worst Waterloo Region intersections for collisions revealed

The intersection of Homer Watson Boulevard and Ottawa Street South has the most and severest collisions overall among all regional roads from 2009 to 2013, according to a new ranking by Waterloo Region staff.

"I'm not surprised at all," said Jim Wideman, regional councillor and chair of the planning and works committee.

"That is a very busy intersection....you've got four lanes on each leg of the intersection. It's just a lot of activity there and several intersections that are very close to each other. So no it doesn't surprise me. [It's] certainly one of the reasons we're looking at roundabouts at that intersection."

In the Region of Waterloo 2013 collision report, staff ranked 100 collision-prone intersections, using a complex formula that factored in injuries, fatalities, property damage estimates, an expected number of collisions and the reported number of collisions that took place from 2009 to 2013. All intersections in the top 10 are either in Kitchener or Cambridge.

Here are the top ten ranked collision locations for 2013:

1. Ottawa Street South at Homer Watson Boulevard in Kitchener
2. Franklin Boulevard at Can-Amera Parkway in Cambridge
3. Homer Watson Boulevard at Manitou Drive/Doon Village Road in Kitchener 
4. Franklin Boulevard at Elgin Street/Saginaw Parkway in Cambridge
5. Franklin Boulevard at Pinebush Road in Cambridge
6. Ottawa Street at Fischer-Hallman Road in Kitchener 
7. King Street at Fountain Street in Cambridge
8. Hespeler Road at Bishop Street in Cambridge
9. Ottawa Street at Westmount Road in Kitchener
10. Franklin Boulevard between Clyde Road (Samuelson Street) and Savage Drive in Cambridge

The collision report data will be used to determine what intersections need the most attention, said Wideman.

"It informs us in terms of what intersections become priorities to do either some kind of short term improvements, to reduce the number of collisions but also long term ones that give us long term solutions, like roundabouts," Wideman said.

For comparison, here is a list of the ten intersections with the highest number collisions from 2009 to 2013.

1. Ottawa Street South at Homer Watson Boulevard with 224 collisions
2. Franklin Boulevard at Can-Amera Parkway with 141 collisions
3. Homer Watson Boulevard at Manitou Drive/Doon Village Road with 134 collisions
4. Ottawa Street at Fischer-Hallman Road with 133 collisions
5. Franklin Boulevard at Elgin Street/Saginaw Parkway with 129 collisions
6. King Street at University Avenue with 127 collisions
7. King Street at Fountain Street with 122 collisions
8. Hespeler Road at Bishop Street with 109 collisions
9. King Street at Fairway Road with 108 collisions
10. Ottawa Street at Alpine Road/Highway 7/8 Eastbound Off Ramp, & Coronation Boulevard/Dundas Street at Hespeler Road/Water Street, both with 101 collisions

Roundabout issues continue

One of the most striking figures in the report is the number of collisions at the Homer Watson Boulevard and Block Line Road roundabout. The report said 72 collisions were reported in 2013, much higher than the predicted number at 22.

Wideman said the roundabout has been problematic since the day it was constructed.

"We have a lot of pedestrian crossing there because of the high school. With a lot of pedestrian crossing we have...guards that stop traffic, and I think that might be causing some of the collisions because suddenly people need to come to a dead stop to allow pedestrian crossing," said Wideman.

"I would want to say though, even though there's been 72 collisions there, the collisions haven't been serious collisions."

In the report, which will be presented to regional council's planning and works committee on Tuesday, staff said measures to decrease the high number of collisions at the roundabout, "have not been effective" and that "[a]dditional countermeasures are under review..."

The report also indicates the total number of reported collisions increased by 8 per cent in 2013 from 2012. The number of people who sustained injuries also increased from 1,898 in 2012 to 1,965 in 2013, and the number of collisions involving horse-drawn vehicles increased from eight in 2012 to 11 in 2013.

But the number of collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists decreased in 2013 from the previous year.

The region's rankings do not cover every single road and intersection in the region.

Rather, the data is "based upon vehicle collisions occurring on roads under the jurisdiction of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo or occurring at signalized intersections (including pedestrian and mid-block signals) under the jurisdiction of local municipalities and either investigated by Regional Police or reported at the Collision Reporting Centre."