If you’ve ever driven through the San Fernando Valley and thought, “This intersection feels like a trap,” you weren’t imagining things. The Valley is not just famous for its sprawl and sunshine. It’s sitting on a quietly alarming network of collision hotspots that keep showing up in crash data year after year. Some of these crossings look completely ordinary, yet statistics tell a very different story. Let’s dive into the ten intersections the numbers keep flagging as the Valley’s most dangerous.
#1 – Sherman Way & Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys
Upon reviewing data compiled by Crosstown LA, a non-profit organization that cross-references Los Angeles Police Department reports, the San Fernando Valley is home to the majority of the most dangerous intersections in the city. The intersection of Sherman Way and Sepulveda Boulevard ranked number one on that list, with 47 traffic collisions recorded in a single year. LAPD data consistently confirms Sherman Way and Sepulveda in Van Nuys as one of the most accident-prone areas in all of Los Angeles. The Crosstown study found that Van Nuys alone is home to six of the city’s top 20 most dangerous intersections, with nearly 200 collisions reported across the neighborhood in one recent year.
#2 – Sepulveda Blvd. & Roscoe Blvd., North Hills / Panorama City
Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, the intersection of Sepulveda and Roscoe in North Hills tops many lists, with the combination of high traffic volume, multiple lanes, and nearby freeway access making it a hotspot for accidents. Crosstown LA data shows there were 65 serious crashes at Sepulveda and Roscoe between 2021 and 2024 alone. Drivers there noted that there’s been a serious wreck nearly every three weeks, and the manager of the Shell gas station on the corner said he’s constantly being asked by drivers and insurance adjusters to see his security camera footage of crashes. Tony Wilkinson, chair of the Panorama City Neighborhood Council, notes that the Sepulveda intersection is just two blocks from the 405, meaning traffic feeds in from far north and far south before hitting Roscoe.
#3 – Burbank Blvd. & Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys
LAPD data reports that Burbank Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys is one of the most dangerous intersections in the area. Located in a dense San Fernando Valley neighborhood, this intersection handles heavy commercial and residential traffic, and the constant flow of vehicles combined with drivers entering and exiting numerous local businesses leads to frequent rear-end and T-bone accidents. In one tracked period, this intersection accounted for 26 crashes and 39 injuries in a single year. Honestly, the sheer number of driveways and commercial entrances near Burbank and Sepulveda is enough to make any experienced driver wince.
#4 – Van Nuys Blvd. & Roscoe Blvd., Panorama City
Roscoe and Van Nuys is another Valley intersection notorious for collisions, seeing constant congestion and frequent red-light running, with businesses and schools nearby extending the risk to both drivers and pedestrians. Roscoe and Van Nuys cracked the top five in the Crosstown LA analysis, with 59 serious wrecks recorded, including a disturbing 14 felony hit-and-runs. Roscoe Boulevard stretches through neighborhoods like Panorama City and Sun Valley, and serving as an exit along both the 405 and the 170 freeways most likely increases the dangerous traffic flow. That kind of hit-and-run figure is not just a statistic. It represents 14 separate moments where a driver chose to flee instead of face consequences.
#5 – Victory Blvd. & Coldwater Canyon Ave., Valley Glen
Valley Glen’s intersection of Victory Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue consistently appears on compiled rankings of the most dangerous crossings in Los Angeles. A major factor contributing to accidents at intersections like this one is the design and layout of the streets themselves, with left-turn lanes, merging traffic, and poorly timed traffic signals all creating confusion. Intersection fatalities across L.A. County are most heavily concentrated at signalized intersections with four or more through lanes, particularly where permitted left turns create conflict points between turning vehicles and pedestrians or oncoming traffic. Victory Boulevard is a classic example of exactly that kind of corridor, wide, fast-moving, and deceptively treacherous.
#6 – Tampa Ave. & Nordhoff St., Northridge
Northridge’s Tampa Avenue and Nordhoff Street consistently ranks among the Valley’s most dangerous intersections in LAPD-sourced data compiled by Crosstown LA. Northridge, home to more than 38,000 students at Cal State University Northridge, recorded 557 car crash accidents in a recent tracked year, making the neighborhood a particularly high-risk zone overall. Heavy congestion, aging road designs, and fast-moving traffic make these areas particularly dangerous, with dense traffic, limited visibility, and nearby shopping centers or freeway entrances leading to constant lane changes. The student population adds yet another unpredictable layer to an already complicated intersection. Mix young drivers with commuter traffic, and the recipe gets ugly fast.
#7 – Sherman Way & Woodman Ave., Van Nuys
Van Nuys’s intersection of Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue appears at number seven on Crosstown LA’s compiled list of the most dangerous crossings in Los Angeles. Sherman Way, running east to west across the Valley, had 178 traffic collisions reported in 2022 alone, making the entire corridor one of the most dangerous stretches in the region. Heavy traffic, confusing turns, and distracted drivers create a mix that can overwhelm even the most cautious motorists along this stretch. Sherman Way is essentially a trap corridor. The fact that multiple intersections along the same road keep appearing on crash lists is a strong signal that the street itself is part of the problem.
#8 – Sherman Way & Coldwater Canyon Ave., Valley Glen
The intersection of Sherman Way and Coldwater Canyon Avenue in Valley Glen is another crossing that repeatedly appears in danger rankings compiled from LAPD data. Streets such as Ventura Boulevard, Burbank Boulevard, and Sherman Way corridors frequently appear in local accident reports, highlighting how these intersections challenge everyone from daily commuters to delivery drivers and rideshare operators. In the Valley specifically, West Valley, Van Nuys, and Mission stations reported some of the highest crash fatalities in 2024, reflecting the risks on the region’s sprawling suburban roads where speeding is common. The Valley Glen stretch of Sherman Way at Coldwater is a living example of how a street can look suburban and calm while quietly racking up collision numbers.
#9 – Devonshire St. & Reseda Blvd., Porter Ranch / Northridge
Devonshire Street and Reseda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley is frequently cited for high crash rates in traffic reports, appearing on multiple state-level danger rankings. A study by Estey & Bomberger found Devonshire Street and Reseda Boulevard to be one of the most dangerous intersections in the state, recording the most injuries of any intersection in their study, with 41 people hurt across the tracked period. Supporting data shows this intersection has a history of 24 crashes that resulted in 41 injuries, and over a ten-year period, there were 108 total accidents at this location. That’s a staggering number for what most people would consider a quiet, suburban-feeling corner of the Valley.
#10 – Balboa Blvd. & Victory Blvd., Lake Balboa
The intersection of Balboa Boulevard and Victory Boulevard in Lake Balboa rounds out the top ten on Crosstown LA’s compiled ranking of the Valley’s most dangerous crossings. This intersection near the 405 freeway sees constant traffic, making it especially dangerous for left turns and rear-end accidents, with high-speed traffic merging from multiple lanes making it one of the most dangerous in the Valley. Data shows that Los Angeles streets have become more lethal overall, with deaths from collisions exceeding the number of homicides over the past three years, and serious injuries from collisions and vehicle-pedestrian crashes far exceeding pre-COVID levels, according to Crosstown LA’s analysis. Lake Balboa might not sound alarming on a map, but the data is difficult to ignore.
The Bigger Picture: Why the Valley Keeps Dominating the Lists
A striking finding across multiple studies is that 17 out of 20 of Los Angeles’s most dangerous intersections are located in the San Fernando Valley, and roughly a third of all injury and fatality accidents in Los Angeles occur within the Valley area. Los Angeles streets have become more lethal in recent years, with traffic fatalities exceeding the number of homicides for the past three years, more than 300 people killed annually in collisions each year since 2022, and serious injuries from collisions far exceeding pre-COVID totals. Since 2017, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has implemented over 7,000 safety treatments from its Safety Toolkit at priority corridors and intersections, and redesigned more than 20 miles of High Injury Network streets. Advocates note there are proven strategies that can make streets safer, such as red-light cameras, which have been shown to reduce collisions by as much as 30%. The Valley’s crash data is a mirror. It reflects a city that built wide, fast roads for cars and is now paying the price in human lives at every signal cycle.
What do you think – would you have guessed that so many of the city’s most dangerous intersections are concentrated right here in the Valley? Tell us in the comments.
