Why are these Warrenville intersections so accident-prone?

Drivers often gain a lead foot when approaching or exiting a major highway.

That fact, said Warrenville Police Chief Ray Turano, is the most likely reason why three of the city's six most accident-prone intersections happen to be along Winfield Road near I-88.

"Fairly heavily-traveled roadways and multi-lane roads just breed speed," Turano said. "I'm not sure why, but people seem to get in a hurry when they get near the tollway.

"There's a direct correlation between excessive speed and people disobeying traffic control devices," he added.

The city's most accident-prone intersection is at Winfield and Diehl roads, where 22 accidents have been recorded between Jan. 1 and Oct. 25, according to data police released this week. In all of 2006, 20 accidents were reported there.

"That's slightly unusual because of the T-shaped design of that intersection," Turano said. "But again, you're very close to the tollway and to a well-populated shopping center."

A close second, with 19 crashes, is the intersection of Route 59 and Butterfield Road, on Warrenville's west side.

Turano said accidents happen there, in part, because it's such a busy intersection, averaging roughly 73,000 cars and trucks daily.

Two intersections -- one at Diehl Road and Davis Parkway and the other at Winfield and Ferry roads -- tied for third place with 14 accidents each.

Route 59 and Batavia Road is fourth with 13, followed by Winfield and Warrenville roads with eight accidents.

Turano didn't have information that would help determine whether the intersections with the highest accident counts also account for the most injuries.

"We didn't look at injuries, but I looked at the number of total accidents that we would be best served at making safer," Turano said. "If you have these accidents, there's automatically a greater probability for these accidents."

To help reverse the trend, city council members are expected to consider plans for electronic traffic enforcement.

The board is expected to vote Monday on whether to approve a contract with Lombard-based RedSpeed Illinois to install red-light cameras at several intersections.

The exact locations of the cameras has yet to be finalized, but they will be positioned to catch drivers who disobey red lights.