Display at the most dangerous intersection of Reykjavik

The most dangerous intersection of Reykjavik is the Miklabraut on Grensásveg and Miklabraut at Kringlumýrarbraut, and it is common for drivers to take « screen hazards » too regularly.

Most accidents and mishaps – both with and without injury – will be at the intersection at Miklubraut and Grensásveg. Then most accidents will be injured at the Miklubraut and Kringlumýrarbraut.

« We have mixed traffic there. Walking, people on wheels and scooters and then driving, « says Hrefna Sigurjónsdóttir, project manager for prevention at Sjóvá, in a conversation with mbl.is.

She says the goal of Sjóvá is to use environmental signs to bring important messages to road users, in places where people need to be particularly vigilant in traffic.

About one damage a day

The insurance companies have figures on damage to these intersections – Miklubraut at Grensásveg and Miklubraut at Kringlumýrarbraut – and according to Hrefna they are pretty high.

Sjóvá figures for 2024 show around 140 recorded damage, just at these two intersections, says the Hrefna numbers have been similar in the previous years.

« So if you look at a clip from the great track – which is the city's main traffic artery – there were 336 damage to certain road sections last year, which is about one day.

So we see that these are dangerous places, as there is a lot of traffic there. « 

336 damage occurred to this road section on Miklubraut last year.

Screenshot/Advent

Common accident site

The Transport Agency regularly publishes a report that examines these issues and supports their latest report on figures from the years 2019 to 2023.

Hrefna points out that the figures that the Transport Agency uses are from the police and collision.is – not from insurance companies – therefore there is a certain default number of numbers, which the Transport Agency knows, and not the generalization value.

« The figures still give an idea of ​​which places are dangerous, » adds Hrefna.

They show that most accidents and mishaps at the intersection in urban areas will be at the intersection at Grensásveg and Miklubraut, the intersection at Kringlumýrarbraut and Miklubraut followed.

« If you look at the intersection with most accidents with injuries during this period, then the intersection at Kringlumýrarbraut and Miklubraut at the top and Grensásvegur at Miklubraut thereafter.

So there are these two that are most dangerous. « 

The most dangerous intersection of Reykjavik is the Miklabraut at Grensásveg Miklabraut at Kringlumýrarbraut, and it is common for drivers to take « screen hazards » too regularly.

Screenshot/Advent

Impaired attention is the main threat in traffic

According to Hrefna, about 65% of these damage will be driven on the back of another car.

« We want to say that it can often be just because people don't have the attention to what they are doing, » she says, adding that Sjóvá and the Transport Agency have been a campaign that does not name the screen, and can be found on skjahaetta.iswhere drivers' tips and tips are found, among other things.

Then she says it is fun to say that the word screen risk has been registered with the Institute of Árnstofnun and has therefore become part of the Icelandic language.

Driving drivers' attention is heavily written on the smart devices that people use under the wheel.

« The police say that it is far too common for people to focus on the phone under the wheel, it distributes their attention, and the World Health Organization now also talks about the fact that reduced attention is one of the main threats in traffic »

Then Hrefna says more than 10% of these damage will be when people are changing lanes, « which in itself is very dangerous behavior but is also absolutely unnecessary, you usually have nothing to get much faster when you do this because the traffic has just its rhythm. »

The intersection at Miklubraut and Kringlumýrarbraut.

mbl.is/karitas

5,854 traffic accidents across the country last year

Hrefna says too many traffic accidents have occurred over the country last year, much more accidents than the year before, and the figures have not been beautiful.

The number of accidents last year was 5,854 in total. The number of injured and deceased was 984 people, of which 13 were killed in a traffic accident.

Hrefna recalls that smaller accidents, which do not necessarily hit the police or the Transport Agency, can still be very expensive.

« It is very expensive to suffer damage and fix cars, except for the being and boredom. »

Prevention signs and traffic clips

The intention is to point out to people that it is approaching a precarious intersection where there has been a lot of damage, so Sjóvá wants to ensure safer traffic.

« We are constantly and constantly always looking for ways to reach people with prevention messages and this is such a part of it. Of course, we are doing lots of other things too, but this is something that we are looking at now because this is so prominent, what there are many damage there in certain places, ”she says.

The goal is mainly to remind people to pay attention to the traffic and be careful at all.

Will these signs also be in English?

« No, they are just in Icelandic now. On the other hand, we were involved in developing the Safe Travel app, which came out of the Safe Travel page, because we work a lot with Landsbjörg.

There, we are very challenging for tourism companies to introduce this app to tourists, because it is very useful to them in driving in Iceland, in situations that they do not know, they are notified through the app. « 

The intersection at Miklubraut and Grensásveg.

mbl.is/karitas

Light -controlled intersection often dangerous

« So this is all a matter of behavior, what behavior pays and doesn't pay off, » says Hrefna.

« It is these light -controlled intersections that are often dangerous – just because people are at higher speeds – and while no bridges have been put or changed there, the information is very important, that people know where it has to be careful.

With this particular operation with the signs, we start by drawing attention to these two intersections – because they stand out in terms of the number of damage and number of accidents – but we are thinking of moving this out to more places. We're just getting started. «