Most Dangerous Intersections in La Grange and Western Springs: Your Picks

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a nervous driver.

Coming of age in a sleepy Cleveland suburb, driving wasn’t nearly the game of dodgem I now navigate on a daily basis.

Drivers meandered slowly through the Metroparks, the forested ring that encircles the urban center, pausing for deer and hapless ducks who waddled into the road. Pleasant ladies were quick to motion other cars through a four-way stop with a generous smile and a languid wave, regardless who arrived first. My greatest anxiety came from confronting my driver’s ed teacher about the fact that I didn’t like her smoking during our lessons.

Now that I live in the Chicago area, driving at the speed limit comes at the risk of being mowed down by enraged, clearly more-important-than-I drivers. You snooze, you lose your ability to peacefully coexist on local roads.

With the intense community interest in the future of the 47th Street/East Avenue intersection, I know I’m not alone in being a road worrier.

And your responses proved it when I posed a question on Facebook about the most dangerous local intersections.

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Topping the list is the intersection of Plainfield Road and 55th Street in La Grange—particularly scary because so many schoolchildren navigate it on their way to St. Cletus School.

“During the winter, if there is a snow, then the kids have to stand IN the intersection to cross—because the island does not get plowed unless someone calls,” Michelle Halm-Nacker wrote. “No one takes responsibility.”

Liz Valdes wrote that even though there’s a crossing guard, she frequently sees drivers ignore her.

Karen Strell laid it out bluntly.

“I defy you to cross on foot,” she wrote. “You can't tell which light is for what or whom and yet kids walk it every day of the school year.”

Next in line are any of the intersections along the BNSF tracks in La Grange and Western Springs. Take your pick—readers see driver misbehavior at them all.

“Burlington & Lawn,” Kelly Marie wrote. “(N)obody looks before going—pedestrians rarely pay attention, everyone backs out without checking their mirrors and no one obeys the ‘right of way’ for cars coming across the tracks. I get anxiety just coming up to that intersection!”

I mapped out your suggestions for the most treacherous intersections, but I’m sure you have more thoughts on the issue. Add your picks to the map, or tell us in the comments!