Northland road policing Senior Sergeant John Fagan said that, while not all Whangarei intersections were as perfect as they could be, "at the end of the day it all comes down to driver behaviour around intersections".
Being aware of what was coming from either side, patience and "taking your time" were keys to reducing intersection crashes, he said.
In the 100 crashes at intersections on state highways, five people were killed, 18 suffered serious injuries and 114 minor injuries.
The three top characteristics of injury crashes were crossing/turning, loss of control on bends, and failing to stop or give way.
As of Friday, four people had died on Northland roads in the year to date, down from five at the same time last year.
The majority of Northland drivers were patient and "pretty good on the road", Mr Fagan said.
NZTA spokesman Andy Knackstedt said the fact that one intersection had more injury crashes than another did not necessarily mean it was more dangerous.
"It may simply mean that there is a lot more traffic travelling through the intersection, and hence statistically there are likely to be more crashes."
A single serious crash at an intersection could also result in several serious injuries, and that crash may well have been the result of a drink-driver failing to stop, rather than the intersection's design.
"When we look at safety and crashes we look at all aspects of the 'safe system' - drivers, vehicles, roads and speeds."
The Safer Journeys Action Plan 2013-15 was launched last month with a goal of a safe road system, increasingly free of death and serious injury.
The plan is a cross-agency initiative.
