Every morning around 5:45 AM I am at the light on Rte 15 and Edison to make a right unto Rte 15, yes I wait at the light as too many rear ends when you go where you can make a right without the light.
At least 3-4 times a week the light has changed to green for me yet anywhere from 1 to 3 cars are moving fast through the red light they now have. Unfortunately you just can't assume because your light is now green you can go without looking as you have these bozos running the red light..where the hell are they going to in such a hurry?? Work?? Leave earlier!!!

That said I think the most dangerous intersection is Berkshire Valley Rd at both Rte 15 North & South. Those lights need adjusting as most of the time you can't get through them both and you have people trying to beat them and the speed limit on 15 at this point is higher then up at Edison Rd.

I call Rt. 15 the racetrack, unfortunately unlike racetracks it has hills, mountains, and blind curves.

I was at the Woroco about 11pm and the light was green for Rt 15 (and had been for over a minute or two) and a car heading south on Berk Valley didn't even hesitate and just went right through the red and crossed the north bound lanes of 15. If anyone had been coming down the hill it would have been fatal for someone. Another night I was going 15 N and coming to the red light above Pathmark and a car coming up the hill from 15S pulled out and made a right into the north bound traffic. Lucky for her we were slowing down for the light and when she saw all the cars coming towards her she stopped and turned around. People are just plain stupid when it comes to driving and paying attention. We need MANY more police cars on Rt. 15. VERY FEW cars speed through Mt. Arlington because the police are always watching and that's what we need on 15. School buses going 55 - 60 and passing me. Saw a girl with the light on in her car (11 pm) reading a book leaning it on her steering wheel while going about 70mph on Rt 80 and it goes on and on and ..............

Now that this has become "stated" fact, out in print and recognized by officials, just maybe this will be a work in progress to correct what the commuters have known for years about these intersections, especially Berkshire Valley and Rt. 15. We take our lives in our hands anytime we cross that intersection just because some ignorant, non-thinking human doesn't want to stop or wait for the lights. It's time to fix it because it is surely broken!

This article almost seems to suggest that the traffic lights cause accidents. It would be very helpful to do a request of the statistics for the same 3 intersections over the last several years and correlate with when the light was added at bowling green, and timing changes (ie length of yellow) at berkshire valley and perhaps edison.

Btw, leaving bowling green turning left onto 15s is ridiculous now, the timing is really bad for mid-day even if appropriate for am rush hour. And it is supposedly illegal to deliberately and obviously circumvent the traffic and exit thru the regular exits at the pathmark 50 feet down the road instead (unless really leaving that lot, not just entering it from bowling green in order to leave it and skip the traffic line). Including those exits when comparing accident rates prior to the light would also be useful, as the bowling green light also changes flow for those pathmark exits as well, probably making them safer than before.

It is illegal to cut through a parking lot to avoid a light it is considered the same as running the red light. I have been pulled over for it.

If you were shopping there then you were not just using the parking lot to avoid the light.

If you are shopping at the hardware store and cut through the Pathmark lot to avoid the light then you are doing something wrong.... now who knows which cops would enforce that law. Guess it depends on how they are feeling that day or if Pathmark starts complaining that they have all this new traffic in their lot because people are avoiding the light.

The Bowling Green light was needed to help slow the traffic coming from Sparta...the drivers ignore the speed change which reduces to 40mph as you approach that light. But I'm surprised there have been so many accidents (31) at that light so far this year. I don't know if there is much more the state, the town or the Police can do...it's all driver error, people in a rush and not paying attention to what they are doing or to the other cars. On Bershire Valley, there are many accidents near the New Orleans Steakhouse...people trying to make the left and cut other cars off, or trying to get through yellow, but now red light. I don't think there are delayed lights on BVR is there?...with the green left turn arrow allowing those cars to get through the light. It works well for the other end of Edison Rd leading onto 15N. Perhaps that would help at the other intersections.

John, we are working on further follow-up articles to this one with more data. As for the question about whether or not it is illegal to cut through a parking lot to circumvent a light, I've posed that question to the police department and will let everyone know the minute I receive an answer.

Thanks to all for your comments. But I'm still wondering what other intersections in town you think might be dangerous. They don't have to be connected to Route 15. Anything in your neighborhoods? Anything nearby that you know?

According to the police, it is a law that a drive may not cut through a parking lot to circumvent a light.

I think once the Quick check opens accidents will increase both northbound and southbound on 15. Also at Chaplins at the intersection of Espanong and Brady or the in front of B&J market at Edison and Espanong. It is very difficult to cross either at peak times but even during the day it's a busy area.

No intersection is by itself dangerous. The only reason they are dangerous is because idiot drivers do not obey the traffic signals. Running red lights and not yielding to oncoming traffic are the reasons the Berkshire Valley Rd/ Rt 15 intersection is so bad. "Me First" has replaced common courtesy and traffic laws. Until people stop thinking their destination is more important than anyone else's, all intersections will be dangerous.

With regard to the legality of circumventing a light by pulling into a gas station or other area and then pulling out again, its actually a 2 point ticket, njsa 39:4-62.2. There's a good writeup at http://www.newjersey-legal-guide.com/Avoiding-Traffic-Signal.html

Regarding other unsafe spots, I think vague and conflicting speed limits is generally not good. For instance by chaplins, which someone else mentioned, if you are comng from edison or espanong road, you see a 25mph sign for the bridge. But if you are coming from brady rd, there's a huge 35mph sign soon before you take the left, and you dont see the 25mph sign, causing an unsafe situation, as well as ticketed for going 35mph on the bridge.

Similarly, on espanong rd bridge over rt15 toward weldon, there are people coming from rt 181, yacht club drive, or espanong rd, all 3 different speed limits. Meanwhile, statutory limit is 50mph since no businesses/residences on the bridge. Having 4 possible speed limits on one stretch is unsafe, and being ticketed for going the statutory speed is not fun, and is expensive. Ambiguous speed limits especially prey upon our younger drivers going towards the schools there (although teachers are also snagged). Both these signages should be fixed.

You may also add this hazardous intersection to your list, Cayuga Trail and Berkshire Valley in Lake Swannanoa. Making a left turn north onto BV is hampered by a blind corner and brush overgrowth for both the driver coming out of Cayuga as well as the driver on BV going south.