Following a three-car accident last month at the intersection of Old County and State Roads in West Tisbury that sent three people to the hospital and left two seriously injured, town leaders last week again made a public push for the state to redesign the intersection widely seen as one of the most dangerous on the Island.

Selectmen held a public discussion about the troublesome Y-shaped intersection during their regular meeting last Wednesday.

Last year the Massachusetts Department of Transportation prepared conceptual plans for two alternative layouts for the intersection. Both plans called for creating a more traditional T intersection and adding a left-hand turning lane for cars headed up-Island turning from State Road onto Old County Road.

But selectmen had concerns about the left-hand turning lane and asked the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to explore other alternatives.

Commission planners unveiled five different plans on Wednesday.

Dan Greenbaum, a Chilmark resident and veteran transportation expert who works as a consultant for the commission, said the intersection is without question the most dangerous on the Island. “It’s a matter of time before a really bad accident happens there — like a head-on collision,” Mr. Greenbaum said. “I think we were fortunate that accident [on May 21] wasn’t worse. If it doesn’t change, something bad is going to happen,” he said.

Tisbury resident Frances Desmone said the biggest problem is a lack of signage and poor visibility.

“As you are coming up-Island you can’t see oncoming traffic. If there was some type of signage that said ‘yield to oncoming traffic,’ or ‘dangerous intersection,’ that might trigger people to start looking more carefully,” she said, adding: “It might be helpful to take down some trees [along State Road] so you could see oncoming traffic. That might work even as a stopgap measure.”

Great Plains Road resident Pat Waring said Islanders have known about the dangers of the intersection for years.

“We knew about it even before we moved into our house; one of my friends had already been in an accident there. One of the reasons the crash data isn’t higher is many people know how dangerous it is, they show a lot of caution . . . maybe we should try to record not just all the accidents, but the damn-near misses. I think that would tell more of the story,” she said.

Mark London, executive director for the commission, said creating a T intersection would help slow traffic and prevent accidents. But like the selectmen, he questioned the wisdom of the two plans proposed by the state last year with the left-hand turning lane from State Road onto Old County, which he said would encourage drivers who are not turning to zip around the left-hand turning cars.

“That seems to be the opposite of what we are trying to do. We are trying to bring down the geometry and slow people down, not open it up so people can keep barreling right through,” he said.

Mr. London presented the five different plans for the intersection drawn by commission staff:

• One would create a T intersection where the traffic island is now located before the bend in State Road;

• One would could create a T intersection with a tighter turning radius at the bend in State Road;

• One would create an intersection with two lanes for traffic turning left or right onto State Road from Old County Road;

• One would keep the western segment at the end of Old County Road and regrow vegetation on the eastern segment;

• One would keep the intersection where it is but create a sharper angle, not quite in a T shape, to slow traffic.

Mr. London said there were advantages and disadvantages to each plan.

Mike Mauro, transportation planner for the commission, said any plan for the intersection needs final approval from the state. He said he collected traffic data for the intersection, which indicated that most motorists who cut across State Road onto Old County are obeying posted speed limits.

“I am sure in some cases people may exceed the limit, but for the most part, in the 85th percentile, which is what the state uses to determine a problem intersection, people are traveling at the speed limit,” Mr. Mauro said.

But he agreed the intersection needed to be changed. He suggested that selectmen invite the Department of Transportation’s road safety audit team to visit the Island, gather data and observe the intersection.

“It’s almost like a field trip. They come out here, spend day with us going through all the issues, take a look at how the intersection operates, look at pictures, sit down with the commission and hash everything out,” Mr. Mauro said. “If they can see it firsthand, if we can show them it’s just a matter of geometry . . . then maybe that will change their minds.”

Selectmen agreed it was a good idea. Mr. Mauro said the team could visit the Island sometime this summer.

“This has already taken too long,” said Michael Colaneri, a town assessor and member of the affordable housing committee. “Let’s move ahead and get this thing fixed. That’s what I would like to see.”