BLOOMINGTON - Three Veterans Parkway intersections were among the top 10 in downstate Illinois when it came to the number of crashes in 2005, and one of those tied for the No. 1 spot.

But state and city officials say that doesn't mean there's a higher risk at those crossings.

"That's really not a valid way of looking at crash data," said Allen Swanson, traffic systems supervisor for the city of Bloomington. He later added the city focuses more on the crash rate - the number of accidents per vehicle passing through the intersection - "and that is really a true measure of the hazardousness of the intersection."

The intersection of Empire Street and Veterans Parkway and an intersection in Springfield tied at 44 each for the most crashes outside Chicago and the suburbs during that year, according to figures from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The figures don't include intersections in Cook, Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage or Will counties.

Two other Veterans Parkway crossings - at Oakland Avenue and Washington Street - placed sixth and 10th in the list with 33 and 32 crashes respectively.

"If it were top 10 by accident rate, or by crash rate, that would be significant," Swanson said. "But by total crashes, it really doesn't mean anything."

City officials instead focus on how many crashes occur for every million vehicles that enter an intersection. They examine those with more than 1.5 accidents for every million, Swanson said.

The intersection of Veterans Parkway and Empire Street wasn't among those in 2005, he said, but the other two Veterans crossings on the state list were. The Oakland Avenue crossing averaged 2.3 crashes per million vehicles, and the Washington crossing had about 1.9, according to Pantagraph archives.

Swanson said police watched for people running red lights after data showed there were numerous rear-end collisions, and the city should soon know if the efforts to reduce that were effective.

Matt Vanover, spokesman for IDOT, said the list, compiled on the request of another news agency, doesn't go beyond raw data. His agency would have to do more research for the list to be useful, he said.

Most of the intersections on the top 10 list have high volumes of traffic, leading to more chances for accidents, he said.

"We would have to look further than just compiling the gross numbers," Vanover said. "And we would have to look and see what types and the severity of the crashes that you would see."

Swanson also said the data isn't useful because of its age.

"This is year-old information, and we work with current information," he said.

Ty Rees, traffic engineer for the city of Springfield, said the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Veterans Parkway in his city - which tied for the most accidents by volume - is among the busiest in his city. And vehicles on his Veterans Parkway can legally enter the intersection at up to 45 mph.

"Anytime you have traffic signals on a higher speed, high-volume road, you can expect crashes," Rees said.

Vanover said that, if the whole state's statistics were included, the list would be dominated by intersections in Cook and DuPage counties.

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Crash counts

Following are the downstate Illinois intersections with the highest number of accidents in 2005.

City intersection Crashes

Bloomington…..Empire / Veterans…..44

Springfield…..Veterans / Wabash…..44

Rockford…..Mulford / State…..37

Loves Park…..Harlem / Perryville…..36

Wood River…..State Route 3 / Ill. 143…..34

Bloomington…..Oakland / Veterans…..33

Rockford…..Perryville / State…..33

Peoria…..University / War Memorial…..33

Fairview Heights…..Interstate 64 / Illinois…..32

Bloomington…..Veterans / Washington…..32

SOURCE: Illinois Department of Transportation

Compiled by Greg Cima