Three Metro Vancouver bridges and five major interchanges on the Trans-Canada Highway in Surrey and Burnaby jam ICBC's latest list of the top 10 crash sites in B.C.

The Highway 1 interchanges at Brunette and at Willingdon in Burnaby are the top two places in B.C. for motor-vehicle crashes, with 410 collisions each in 2008.

But the Knight Street intersection with Southeast Marine Drive is the third most crash-prone, with 335 crashes, and the Knight Street Bridge itself is fourth with 250.

Rounding out the list are: the Highway 1/Gaglardi interchange (number five with 240 crashes); Highway 1 and 152 Street in Surrey (number six with 240); Highway 1 and 176 Street (number seven with 225); the Alex Fraser Bridge (number eight with 195); 88 Avenue and King George Highway in Surrey (number nine with 190) and the Lions Gate Bridge (number 10 with 190).

The fact that all 10 top crash locations in B.C. are in Metro Vancouver is no surprise, ICBC officials say.

The sheer volume of traffic on Lower Mainland routes – and the fact the majority of the province's population lives here – guarantees the region will rack up big crash statistics.

"These are some of the busiest portions of the B.C. highway system in the entire province," said ICBC spokesman Mark Jan Vrem.

He said the Gateway program work now under construction to double the width of Highway 1 through Surrey and Burnaby promises to improve traffic flow and should make the freeway corridor somewhat safer.

But he argues it's generally not the roads or the intersections that need improvement.

Motorists, who are often distracted, impatient and driving too fast, are the ones that need to change in order to make driving in Metro Vancouver traffic safer.

"The roads may be packed and slick and you may be late, but you have to drive to the conditions," Jan Vrem said.

One notorious bridge that has a killer reputation didn't make the list.

The Pattullo, long the focus of calls to improve safety after a string of deadly crashes over the years, has been surprisingly safe of late, partly due to TransLink's policy of closing the middle lanes of the narrow span at night to prevent crossover collisions.

"The Pattullo – knock on wood – has been fairly mute," said Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow. "We haven't had a real serious collision there since the beginning of January 2006."

The intersection of 88 Avenue and King George Highway, ninth on the provincial list, is definitely the most dangerous spot in Surrey that's not on the freeway, Morrow said.

The next most dangerous intersections in Surrey are 120 Street and 72 Avenue and King George Highway at 96 Avenue, according to Morrow.

"They're very busy intersections," Morrow said.

Motorists have more room on Surrey's wider streets and tend to drive faster on them than is possible in most of the major arterials in Vancouver, he added.

He sees drivers making dangerous manoeuvres far too often.

This week he spotted one approaching an intersection to turn right blow through the red light with almost no attempt to slow down.

Fortunately, Morrow said, the intersecting traffic hadn't arrived.

"Otherwise he could have been wearing a vehicle in his driver's door."