Shocker: A St. Louis Intersection Is Among the Nation's Deadliest

A recent study analyzing deadly intersections across the U.S. made a conclusion that should surprise precisely no one who's ever driven in St. Louis: Grand Boulevard is a killer.

But while many residents of Tower Grove South and Tower Grove East have been focused on South Grand, it's actually an intersection with North Grand that's among the deadliest in the U.S. — the intersection of North Grand and Montgomery in the JeffVanderLou neighborhood.

Cars speed well in excess of 40 mph in this part of North Grand, and pity any driver trying to turn left to join the vehicles heading downtown on a weekday morning. There's no streetlight or stop sign on Grand for blocks, so not only do cars have no reason to slow down, but there's little chance of getting into the flow without seizing a questionable moment and gunning it.

The study by Fang Law Firm, which crunched 20 years of accident data, found that deadly crashes are most likely to occur at the intersection of a main artery (like Grand) and local roads (like Montgomery). "When high-speed traffic areas meet lower speed traffic areas, there is more likelihood of crashes," the authors note.

The study found that from 2000 to 2019, there were seven fatalities at North Grand and Montgomery, just two shy of two deadliest intersections in the U.S. during that period. (Both of the deadliest are in New Jersey.)
According to the study's authors, "From 2000 through 2019, there were 159,394 fatal crashes designated as intersection-related. However, not all intersections are created equal and we found that it was extremely rare for multiple fatal crashes to occur at a single crossing. Consider this. There are about 15,812,406 intersections in the continental United States. Less than one percent saw even one fatal crash (147,000). Only 1,828 had three or more fatal crashes — less than .01 percent. "

For more on how poor engineering creates deadly intersections — and why half-empty cities like St. Louis with swift-moving, half-empty arteries are particularly dangerous, we recommend reading Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in the United States, by Angie Schmitt.

And maybe slow down out there. Just because Missouri currently allows texting while driving doesn't mean it's a good idea — especially not when the other drivers are all zooming past the speed limit.

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