Danger points; Accident-prone intersections analyzed.

Byline: Mary Jo Hill

Drivers, neighbors and officials can easily tick off the danger spots on roads.

Neighbors know by the sounds of screeching brakes and crunching metal, while motorists talk about near-misses and local officials field complaints about speeding and crashes and experience the tricky turns themselves.

Those who study traffic for a living take a more systematic approach to calculating danger.

The Massachusetts Highway Department issued a report on the locations of the top 200 high crash intersections using data from 2003 through 2005.

Leominster had an intersection that ranked second in the state on this list - at Main Street (Route 13) and Prospect Street. Worcester's highest-ranking intersection at Park Avenue (Route 9) and Pleasant Street was 17th on the list.

Difficulties in obtaining precise, usable crash data and variations in crash reporting rates by some jurisdictions mean that the report is to be used as a screening tool rather than a precise listing of crash frequencies, the state notes.

The top 200 list can be used to evaluate locations and make changes to improve safety on the roads, according to the state.

The Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, a regional advisory board that serves 21 member communities mostly in northern Worcester County, is shaping a two-phase plan analyzing the location of known trouble spots.

The commission is near completion of the first phase of a database that looks at the most dangerous intersections and interchanges in its area. A preliminary list of the top 10 dangerous intersections and interchanges in the area won't surprise anyone who regularly travels Route 2.

Route 2's Exit 31 for North Main Street (Route 12) in Leominster has been given the dubious rank of being at the top of the list, with a total of 192 crashes from 2002 through 2005. Exit 32 for Main Street (Route 13) in Leominster is ranked second, with 120 crashes. Both are interchanges.

Using Massachusetts Highway Department data from 2002 through 2005 - a different time frame from the top 200 report, the regional agency has been assessing crashes as it rates intersections and interchanges. To date, the analysis had found 113 sites that qualified as most dangerous.

The database, which looks at safety problems anywhere on a roadway, including intersections, interchanges and roadways, will be used to plan, design and implement safety improvements, according to the commission's George Snow.

Such lists of dangerous areas are compiled by regional planning agencies throughout the state, including the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission in Worcester. The studies are done at the direction of the Federal Highway Administration, which targets money to each state.

"It's definitely a guideline that's been in place for a little while," said Adam Hurtubise, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works.

The Montachusett Regional Planning Commission's analysis considers the severity of a crash with three possible outcomes: fatal injury; nonfatal injury; and property damage only.

"The crash is then weighted with a point or points depending on the severity outcome," Mr. Snow said.

One point goes to a property damage-only crash, five points to nonfatal injury crashes and 10 points to fatal collisions.

"In other words, one fatal injury crash equals two nonfatal injury crashes and 10 property damage-only crashes," Mr. Snow said. "This method is called the Equivalent Property Damage Only crash severity rating system."

Massachusetts and many other states use the system as one way to identify locations with a safety problem, Mr. Snow said. A fatality is not necessary for an intersection or interchange to qualify as dangerous, he said.

This same rating system was used for the state's list of the top 200 high crash intersections.

The Montachusett Regional Planning Commission's first phase of analysis looked at nearly 10,700 intersection and interchange crashes with the second phase to analyze nearly 10,900 non-intersection and unknown location crashes.

It's difficult to say whether the database will make it easier for the regional advisory board or communities to qualify for transportation grants, Mr. Snow said. When a location is identified, it's brought to the attention of the government with jurisdiction and further study is necessary if a decision is made to seek improvements, he said.

Anecdotal evidence doesn't always match up with the view of a governmental agency.

"Unless a citizen does some type of traffic study that quantifies the issues at a particular location, their definition of a dangerous intersection will most likely be based on some sort of perception," Mr. Snow said. "This cannot be used as a basis to improve safety at a location."

That might be the case, for example, with Worcester's infamous Kelley Square, where motorists exiting Interstate 290 onto Vernon Street (Route 122A), unfamiliar with the city and bound, say, for an event at the DCU Center, suddenly find themselves white knuckled and confused where Vernon, Water, Harding, Green and Madison streets converge.

Kelley Square made the state's list of top 1,000 worst intersections compiled three or four years ago, according to Mary Ellen Blunt, program manager, transportation, with the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission in Worcester. But Kelley Square doesn't appear on the list of 200.

Several reasons may account for its omission, she said, including the way crashes are weighted.

While accidents occur in Kelley Square, their severity - measured in personal injury and property damage - may in the aggregate keep Kelley Square off the list.

"It is well-known, and traveled mostly by local people, rather than out-of-towners," said Ms. Blunt. "It is also an intimidating intersection, and so people may be approaching it more cautiously and entering it more slowly" with the result that any crashes involve less injury and damage.

"If someone is going in with white knuckles, they will be going slower and the crash would not be as severe," she said. "Even if there are a lot of crashes, it won't rank high on the state list."

Ask Leominster Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella to name a dangerous intersection and he immediately comes up with Willard and Central streets - not a top 10 contender.

The road crossing doesn't generate a lot of accidents that might jump out as a major problem in analysis, the mayor admits.

"But everyone who travels that area will tell you it's a very dangerous intersection," Mr. Mazzarella said. A combination of different grades on the roads, a hill and obstructions that keep motorists from getting a clear line of sight interfere, he said.

Officials are working with developers to correct the situation, he said.

The mayor agrees that there are a number of crashes on Route 2 and at the junction with Interstate 190, and that's why city officials have pushed for changes, he said.

Contact Mary Jo Hill by e-mail at [e-mail].

ART: PHOTOS; CHARTS

CUTLINE: (1) Main Street (Route 13) and Prospect Street in Leominster ranks as the state's No.2 most dangerous intersection and the most dangerous in Central Massachusetts based on statistics from 2003 to 2005. (2) Park Avenue (Route 9) and Pleasant Street in Worcester ranks as the state's 17th most dangerous intersection and the No. 2 most dangerous in Central Massachusetts. (3) East Main Street (Route 20) and Curtis Avenue in Marlboro ranks 27th most dangerous intersection in the state and No. 5 most dangerous in Central Massachusetts. (4) Lunenburg Street (Route 2A) and John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg is the 57th most dangerous intersection in the state and No. 9 most dangerous in Central Massachusetts. (5) Southbridge Road (Route 20) and Leicester Road (Route 56) is ranked 57th most dangerous intersection in the state and No. 10 in Central Massachusetts. (CHART 1) Top ten dangerous Central Mass. intersections (CHART 2) Dangerous driving

PHOTOG: (1, 4) T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR (2) T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA (3) T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS (5) T&G Staff/MARK C. IDE (CHARTS) T&G Staff