10 Most Dangerous Intersections

W A S H I N G T O N, June 27 -- The nation's most dangeroustraffic intersection is north of Miami in Pembroke Pines,Fla., the No. 1 U.S. car insurer reported today.

State Farm released its top 10 "Most Dangerous"intersection list, which analyzed claims data in all 50states and the District of Columbia.

Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa, Okla., each had twointersections on the list, while Frisco, Texas (near Dallas); Metairie, La. (near New Orleans); and Sacramento,Calif., each had one.

The insurer compiled the list based on crashes thatresulted in claims by its policy-holders in 1999 and 2000.

State Farm estimated there were 357 crashes over thetwo-year period at the Flamingo Road and Pines Boulevardintersection.

The main problem there, according to State Farm safetyengineer John Nepomuceno, was traffic volume. He estimated theintersection handles roughly 200,000 cars per day.

Nepomuceno said intersections on the top 10 list all metappropriate design standards and were regulated by trafficlights. He said traffic volume and driver error were twoimportant factors in crashes.