Lake-Cook, Buffalo Grove most dangerous intersection in village

There’s change at the top when it comes to Buffalo Grove’s most dangerous intersections.

According to accident data provided to village leaders this week by police, the most dangerous intersection in the village last year was at Lake-Cook and Buffalo Grove roads, where 31 crashes occurred.

Next was Lake-Cook and McHenry roads, with 27 crashes, followed by Lake-Cook and Arlington Heights roads (24), Arlington Heights and McHenry roads (22) and Buffalo Grove and Dundee roads (21).

The most dangerous intersection in 2011, Buffalo Grove and Aptakisic roads, fell outside the top five last year.

Police Sgt. Mike Rodriguez said the department is addressing high-crash intersections through driver education, seat belt enforcement and even posting a message board alerting drivers that a location experiences a large number of crashes.

He said police presence at high-crash locations climbed from 88 hours to 217 hours last year, with 1,150 tickets issued in the top five locations.

Fortunately, he said, more than 95 percent of the people who drive in Buffalo Grove wear their seat belts.

“That’s so important in reducing the severity of these crashes,” he said.

Overall, the total reported crashes in 2012 was just above 1,200, Rodriguez said. The village’s goal is to reduce that number below 1,000, he added.

It’s going to take a bit of an effort, he said, because the village is at “20-year lows. So we’re kind of at the lowest saturation point.”