Sudbury develops safety plan for city's 10 most dangerous intersections

A pedestrian and cyclist signal is seen on Ramsey Lake Road. (Supplied)

Greater Sudbury is working on strategies to improve safety at 10 intersections in the city with higher-than-normal rates of collisions.

A report headed to the operations committee July 11 says the 'top' ranked intersection was Regent Street between Caswell Drive and Paris Street/Long Lake Road.

The staff report said private driveways on both sides of the road are likely behind the high number of collisions.

"The collision history in this area showed a number of areas where collisions are occurring," the report said.

"As part of the south end study, staff will engage a consultant to help analyze the collisions in this area."

Private driveways also act as "conflict points" and are likely behind collisions on The Kingsway between the private road east of McDonalds and Silver Hills Drive, No. 2 on the city's list.

The long-term solution is to close those driveways.

"Staff, though the development approval process, also looks for opportunities to close driveways and reduce the number of conflict points," the report said.

The other major factor behind the collisions is distracted driving, the report said. It's the major reason behind collisions along the next two areas on the list: Paris Street at Ramsey Lake Road and MR80 at Main Street.

"The majority of incidents are rear-end collisions occurring during ideal driving conditions," the report said.

"In most instances, the No. 1 driver behaviour is distracted driving or (following) too close to another vehicle ... A distracted driving education campaign is scheduled to be released this year."

Other roadways on the list include Lasalle Boulevard at Auger Avenue (turning lane conflicts), Elm Street at Lloyd Street/Notre Dame Avenue (cyclist/pedestrians often struck by vehicles) and Notre Dame Avenue between Wilma Street and Cambrian Heights Drive (no discernible reason, the report said.)

In some cases, such as at Paris Street at Centennial Drive, the reason for collisions is drivers disobeying traffic lights.

"This intersection has been identified as a location for a red light camera installation in 2022," the report said.

There have been some success stories. Progress has already been made at two of the intersections. At Lorne Street at Douglas Street, a realigned traffic signal has led to a reduction in collisions.

And at Notre Dame Avenue at Louis Street and Ste Anne Road, a bikeway project has been installed to reduce problems and crashes.

The report also there were more collisions during the month of February than any other month, followed by December, January and November. April and September were the safest months.

Read the full report here.