Intersection safety for holiday travel

Many of you may be hitting the roads to travel for Thanksgiving or to start your holiday shopping.

With more than 3,000 red light and stop sign violations last year alone, intersection safety shouldn't be ignored. Grizzly car crash scenes at intersections are all too familiar for Shreveport Police.

Hundreds of intersection accidents happen every year in the city and most could be prevented by better driving habits.

"Most of those intersection crashes happen because someone disregards a traffic signal or some other means of traffic control," Shreveport P.D. Public Information Officer Cpl. Marcus Hines said.

Hines says patience and common sense is the best way to prevent an intersection crash.

"Use common sense in making sure there's nothing coming before you proceed to go out into traffic," Hines said.

The Spring and Lake Street intersection is the worst in Shreveport, according to S.P.D.'s website. A reported 92 accidents happened last year alone.

"There are several lanes of merging traffic, and if you're coming into that intersection," Hines said. "You're not paying attention to the warning signs, often times can end in a collision."

Those of you heading down Youree Drive for holiday shopping may want to pay more attention. Four intersections along the road are listed in the city's top 10 worst.

Bert Kouns topped the list for the most non-intersection crashes last year with 169.