What's the most dangerous area in your town?

Never mind muggings, carjackings and other common street crimes. Statistically, you run the greatest risk of getting hurt just driving your car at a traffic light.

In urban areas, intersections are by far the most likely spot to have a crash resulting in injury or property damage. "Failure to yield"-that is, running a red light, stop sign or other traffic control device-consistently ranks as one of the prime causes of collisions in New York State. In fact, it usually ranks No. 1; only last year did it drop to second behind "driver distraction" as a factor in traffic mishaps here.

Nationally, more than 1 million crashes occur each year at intersections with traffic lights. Red-light runners alone kill 900 people and injure more than 200,000. At the average big-city intersection, somebody runs a red light every 20 minutes-and the frequency skyrockets during rush hours.

With so many scofflaws whizzing around when they should be stopping or yielding, you need to practice good self-defense at intersections.

The Crouching Turtle

East Coast road etiquette demands that you treat green lights like the "go" signal at a quarter-mile drag strip: At the first flash, you mash the accelerator and take off. Hesitate for even a nanosecond, and you're liable to hear horns blaring from behind.

The Crouching Turtle technique takes a counter-cultural tack. Instead of a jackrabbit start, you look left, then right, and finally left again before moving on green. It's a slow-but-steady, safe start-just like the turtle's in Aesop's fable.

Why look before you lunge? According to research by Nestor Technologies, a Rhode Island-based manufacturer of traffic monitoring devices, 97 percent of all red-light violations occur within 5 seconds after the light changes. In fact, a whopping 71 percent occur within the first 1.5 seconds-making that second and a half the most dangerous moments to head into the intersection.

When a vehicle approaches the intersection on the cross street, "you can't assume that it's going to stop or that the driver sees the signal," says Frank Niland of the Club's Traffic Safety Department. "You have to look first."

The Darting Squirrel

This technique demands an acute awareness of your surroundings. Employ it on major thoroughfares when cars approach perpendicular to your path of travel, attempting to enter the road from a side street or driveway from the right. Often, the vehicle will rocket past the stop line and nose into the intersection. At that moment, you wonder, "Is he going to pull out in front of me?"

"As a rule of thumb, you can assume that he won't stop," says Niland. Recent studies suggest that a majority of drivers routinely violate stop signs, either by failing to stop behind the line, rolling through or ignoring the sign altogether.

To defend yourself, says Niland, you have two choices. First, move as far to the left as possible-close to the centerline or even into the adjoining lane, if it's clear of traffic. Like a squirrel, you dart out of the intruding car's projected path. Your second choice is to slow down-a safe option only with no other traffic immediately behind you.

Studies conducted at Iowa State University and sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety confirm what you probably heard long ago in driver's ed: Making a right turn onto a thoroughfare where the prevailing speed is 30 to 35 mph requires a 6-second gap. During those 6 seconds, the vehicle must execute the turn and accelerate to the prevailing speed. If you don't think that the driver approaching the intersection on your right has the requisite 6 seconds, quickly assess your surroundings and perform the Darting Squirrel as necessary.

The Posing Tiger

Assume the Posing Tiger position when you ready yourself for a left turn at an intersection. As you wait for oncoming vehicles to clear the intersection, keep your front wheels pointed straight ahead like the paws of a posing tiger. Never cock them to the left in anticipation of the turn.

Rear-end collisions are the second most common type of intersection mishap, accounting for nearly one in every five crashes. If an inattentive driver rear-ends you while you're poised to turn and your front wheels are cocked slightly to the left, the force of the collision will push you directly into the path of oncoming traffic. Then you face a head-on or front-corner collision as well. Keeping your wheels pointed straight ahead will protect you from this double jeopardy.

The Curling Dragon

Although left turns into oncoming traffic account for only about one in every 10 intersection collisions, they involve over 40 percent of the injuries. Those statistics give traffic safety experts good reason to consider left turns one of the most disproportionately dangerous maneuvers you can make at an intersection.

With the Curling Dragon, you can avoid risky left turns entirely. Instead of making a left, drive past the intersection to the next cross street. Make a right, a second right at the next street, and finally a third right. Essentially, you're "curling" around the block to return to the same spot and head in your intended direction.

According to Niland, seniors who have diminished confidence in their reflexes or ability to judge the speed of oncoming traffic find the technique particularly helpful. Anyone, however, can practice the Curling Dragon or other self-defense tactics to stay safer at intersections.