Lower Mainland’s most dangerous intersections, according to ICBC

Just in time for what’s going to be a very busy long weekend for drivers, ICBC has released its top 10 most dangerous intersections around the Lower Mainland.

At the top of the list 264 Street and Highway 1 in Langley, which recorded 240 crashes in 2022.

CityNews 1130 Morning Show Producer Dean Recksiedler drives through it frequently and says there is always tons of volume, especially as drivers come out of the Aldergrove area and Fraser Valley.

“And that whole interchange is not great. There’s a lot you have to look out for, a lot of shoulder-checking, there are speeds you have to watch out for, for the other drivers. I think our head on a swivel is something that we’re not as good as maybe we’ve been before — too many things going on in the car. I don’t know, but there’s a lot more traffic certainly in that area,” he explained.

(Courtesy ICBC)

The Tri-Cities really stand out in the rankings, by taking up about one-third of the list. That region includes Brunette Ave and Highway 1, Broadway Street and the Mary-Hill Bypass, and the Coleman Avenue on-ramp and Fawcett Road near Lougheed Highway.

Close to Burquitlam is the intersection of Gaglardi Way and Cariboo Road, which recorded 155 crashes last year.

Coming in as the second most dangerous intersection is Boundary Road and Grandview Highway, along the Burnaby-Vancouver border.

Main Street, 7th Avenue and Kingsway in Vancouver. (CityNews Image / Sonia Aslam)

Mike Halford, a host with our sister station Sportsnet 650, drives through there and says it’s always chaos.

“It seems like a lot of people want to make the decision to either go left on to Boundary or go on the highway at the last second, so that’s a bit of a nightmare,” he explained.

“And then coming off the highway in the reverse direction, it’s always backed up on the on-ramp and it just seems like there’s a huge overflow of traffic like all the time and a million cars no matter what the time of day is, which is kind of puzzling. You would think at certain points it would drop, but it doesn’t.”

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He adds another problem is too many people gun it to get through the intersection, which is likely why we’re seeing so many crashes.

“Because they’re trying to get on the highway or conversely, trying to get off the highway. It can be a bit of a nightmare at times and again, it feels like 18 lanes of traffic.”

Drex with JACK FM agrees. He calls that intersection a hot mess.

“You have people turning left onto Boundary near the film studio and that will back all the way up past the Save-On-Foods, so you have to figure out which lane you need to be in and then you have the HOV lane that starts there as well, but it’s also the right turning lane onto the other way of Boundary.”

But Drex is offering a solution.

“Get rid of the Wendy’s. The Wendy’s parking lot destroys the traffic right there on the corner.”

For pedestrians in the region, the intersection which saw the most crashes was East Hastings and Main streets in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.