ICBC and police announced a province-wide intersection safety awareness and enforcement campaign on Friday, May 21.

The focus of the campaign is on driver behaviours that contribute to intersection crashes.

Police are stepping up their enforcement of intersection safety in communities throughout the province.

On average, between 2005 and 2009 more than 250 crashes occurred at intersections in B.C. every day.

The top five contributing factors in intersection crashes in B.C. according to police data from 2004 to 2008 are:
1. Failing to Yield Right-of-Way
2. Ignoring Traffic Control
3. Speeding
4. Driver Inattentiveness
5. Driver Error/Confusion

Generally, high crash intersections tend to have very heavy traffic volumes. When you combine that with high-risk driving behaviours the crash incident numbers are high. Here are the top five most crash-prone intersections in Terrace:

1. E 9TH AVE & MCBRIDE ST & W 9TH AVE
2. 7TH ST & W 2ND AVE
3. E 3RD AVE & MARKET PL & MCBRIDE ST & W 3RD AVE
4. 1ST ST & W 2ND AVE
5. MCBRIDE ST & W 2ND AVE

Although these locations were the most crash-prone in 2009, the important thing to remember is that crashes can happen at any intersection if drivers engage in high-risk behaviours.

More than 40 per cent of all police-attended crashes in B.C. occur at intersections.

Intersection crashes can lead to serious consequences, especially when pedestrians or motorcyclists are involved:
- On average, from 2005 to 2009 approximately 1,300 pedestrians were injured annually in intersection-related incidents in B.C.
- On average, from 2005 to 2009 more than 950 crashes involving motorcycles occurred at intersections in B.C. annually.