Arizona Pedestrian Deaths: A 15-Year Analysis | AZ Law Now Data Report

AZ Law Now · Data Report · Arizona, 2010-2024

Arizona's Pedestrian Toll

We measured 15 years of Arizona's road deaths, not one. We counted every pedestrian killed from 2010 through 2024 and found the pattern the yearly headlines miss: how the toll moved, when people die, and where the deaths concentrate.

2,996

pedestrians killed walking in Arizona, 2010 to 2024.

1 in 5 of all Arizona road deaths over the window

The state reports one year at a time. We read 15. Arizona logged 263 pedestrian deaths in 2024 alone; over 15 years the toll is 2,996. Here is what the long record says, finding by finding, with every number you can copy and use.

Person-level · 15-year analysis

One in five Arizona road deaths is a pedestrian

1 in 5 of all Arizona road deaths is a pedestrian

Over 15 years, 2,996 pedestrians were killed walking in Arizona. Set that against every person who died on an Arizona road in the same window, 14,967 people, and one in five road deaths is a pedestrian. That is 20.0 percent, counted person by person across our 15-year analysis, not a single year's headline.

Pedestrians are not a footnote to the road-death problem. They are a fifth of it. Every figure on this page that says "pedestrians killed" counts people, the standard definition of a pedestrian who died, and we hold that measure separate from the crash counts further down. We read the record the way we read a case: one definition, applied the same way every time.

Computed · person-level by year

The toll nearly doubled

+82% last five years vs the first five

Arizona's pedestrian death toll did not drift. It climbed. In 2010 the record counted 145 pedestrians killed. By the 2022 peak it counted 297. We bucketed the 15 years into a first five and a last five, and the gap is stark: 707 pedestrians killed from 2010 to 2014, against 1,289 from 2020 to 2024. That is an 82 percent rise.

The trend is the story. More people are dying on foot now than at the start of the window, and the curve bends the wrong way. Our 297 peak is the person-level count in our analysis. The live 2024 investigation cites ADOT's count for the same year, a different agency counting the same roads, so we keep the two apart and cite the source behind each number.

Computed · light condition

Seven in ten died in the dark

69.9% of pedestrians killed died in darkness

Darkness is the single biggest condition behind these deaths. Of the 2,996 pedestrians killed, 2,094 died in the dark. That is 69.9 percent, computed from the light condition on each fatal record. Daylight accounts for far fewer. When the sun is down, the walker disappears, and the margin for a driver to react collapses.

The dark majority holds across the data. The live 2024 investigation found a similar pattern in a single year using crash counts; our 69.9 percent is the 15-year person-level read. Two windows, two measures, one finding: most pedestrians killed in Arizona die after dark.

Computed · lighting present

People die even where the lights are on

636 killed in the dark on lit roads

It is easy to assume the dark deaths happen on unlit back roads. The record says otherwise. Of the 2,094 pedestrians killed in darkness, 1,458 died on dark, unlighted roads, but 636 died in the dark on roads that had streetlights on. People are dying where a city already spent the money to light the street.

That gap matters for what a fix looks like. A streetlight is not a finish line. Lit-but-dark deaths point past the light to the rest of the design: where the crossing is, how wide the road is, how fast the traffic moves, and whether a walker has anywhere safe to be. Lighting is necessary. On its own, it is not enough.

Crash-level · concentration

One West Phoenix corridor stands out

26 deaths on one West Phoenix corridor

The deaths are not spread evenly. They concentrate. Across 15 years, Arizona's crash record clusters along West Indian School Road as it runs through the Maryvale and Alhambra neighborhood band in West Phoenix, 26 deaths across three adjacent half-kilometer stretches of one arterial. It is the deadliest pedestrian corridor in our 15-year analysis.

We lead with the corridor and the neighborhood, not a single intersection. The cluster is real and field-verified at the corridor level; we do not print exact cross-streets, because at the block level the data is not precise enough to name a corner as fact. The pattern is a band of West Phoenix, low-income and heavily walked, carrying a toll the rest of the city does not.

Below, the same record by city. Note the measure shifts here: this table counts pedestrian-involved fatal crashes, not pedestrians killed, so it is labeled that way and held apart from the person-level counts above.

Pedestrian-involved fatal crashes by city

RankCityShare
1 Phoenix 27.5%
2 Tucson 17.4%
3 Mesa 8.1%
4 Glendale 4.9%
5 Tempe 4.2%

Share of named-city pedestrian-involved fatal crashes, NHTSA FARS 2010 to 2024, computed by AZ Law Now. This is a crash-level measure: it counts fatal crashes that involved a pedestrian, not the person-level count of pedestrians killed used elsewhere on this page. Phoenix carries more than a quarter of the state's named-city total, and within Phoenix the deaths concentrate on West Indian School Road through the Maryvale and Alhambra band.

Crash-level · county share

Six in ten happen in Maricopa County

61.7% of pedestrian-involved fatal crashes are in Maricopa County

This is a metro-Phoenix crisis. Maricopa County accounts for 61.7 percent of Arizona's pedestrian-involved fatal crashes over the 15 years. We state this as crash-level on purpose: it counts fatal crashes that involved a pedestrian, not the person-level pedestrian death total at the top of this page. The two measures answer different questions, so we never merge them.

The concentration tracks the people. Maricopa is where most Arizonans live, walk, and cross, and it carries most of the danger to match. Arizona also ranks among the deadliest states in the country for people on foot; for the per-capita rate behind that, see the live 2024 investigation, which carries the GHSA figure. We did not compute a per-capita rate ourselves, so we point you to the source that did.

The receipts

Sources and method

The pedestrian death counts, shares, trend, and light-condition figures are computed by AZ Law Now from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2010 to 2024, the federal record of every traffic death. "Pedestrians killed" is a person-level count, the federal definition of a pedestrian who died, and we hold it separate from the crash-level figures: the Maricopa County and by-city numbers count pedestrian-involved fatal crashes, not pedestrians killed, and are labeled that way. The deadliest-corridor cluster on West Indian School Road is from the same FARS file, verified at the corridor level against the City of Phoenix street record; we name the corridor and the Maryvale and Alhambra neighborhood band, not exact intersections. Where we cite Arizona's national rank or per-capita rate, we attribute it to GHSA and the live 2024 investigation, because we did not compute a per-capita rate from FARS. The single-year 2024 figures we reference for comparison are ADOT counts; we never blend an ADOT count and a FARS count in one claim.

  1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2025). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2010 to 2024 national file [Data set]. U.S. Department of Transportation. static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/
  2. Arizona Department of Transportation. (2025). 2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts for the State of Arizona. azdot.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/2024-Crash-Facts.pdf
  3. Governors Highway Safety Association. (2025). Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State. ghsa.org/resources/Pedestrians25
  4. City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department. (2022). Road Safety Action Plan (Vision Zero), adopted September 7, 2022. phoenix.gov/streets/roadsafety

Use these numbers

Embed the whole report

Running a story on Arizona pedestrian safety? Paste this once and the graphic links back to the full report. It's free to use with credit. Need a single stat instead? Every finding above has its own copy-paste embed. 

<a href="https://azlawnow.com/data/arizona-pedestrian-deaths/?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=infographic&utm_campaign=arizona-pedestrian-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
  <img src="https://azlawnow.com/og/arizona-pedestrian-deaths.png" alt="2,996 pedestrians were killed walking in Arizona from 2010 to 2024. AZ Law Now's 15-year analysis of Arizona pedestrian deaths: one in five road deaths is a pedestrian, the toll doubled, and 70 percent died in the dark." width="1200" height="675" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;border:0;" />
</a>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#4A5859;margin:6px 0 0;">
  Source: <a href="https://azlawnow.com/data/arizona-pedestrian-deaths/?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=infographic&utm_campaign=arizona-pedestrian-deaths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AZ Law Now, Arizona Pedestrian Deaths</a>. Computed from NHTSA FARS, 2010 to 2024.
</p>

Questions, answered

Frequently asked

How many pedestrians have been killed in Arizona?

2,996 pedestrians were killed walking in Arizona from 2010 to 2024, based on our analysis of the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System. That is one in five of all Arizona road deaths over the same 15 years. Arizona logged 263 pedestrian deaths in 2024 alone; over 15 years the toll is 2,996.

Are pedestrian deaths in Arizona getting worse?

Yes. Arizona pedestrian deaths went from 145 in 2010 to a peak of 297 in 2022 in our 15-year analysis. The last five years of the window run 82 percent above the first five, 1,289 pedestrians killed from 2020 to 2024 against 707 from 2010 to 2014.

What time of day do most Arizona pedestrian deaths happen?

In the dark. 69.9 percent of the 2,996 pedestrians killed in Arizona from 2010 to 2024 died in darkness. And it is not only unlit roads: 636 of those dark deaths happened on streets that had lighting on, which points past the streetlight to the rest of the road design.

Where in Arizona are pedestrians most at risk?

In metro Phoenix. Maricopa County accounts for 61.7 percent of Arizona's pedestrian-involved fatal crashes over 15 years. Within Phoenix, the deaths cluster along West Indian School Road through the Maryvale and Alhambra neighborhood band, with 26 deaths across three adjacent stretches of one arterial.

Why are Arizona roads so deadly for people on foot?

It is the road, not just the walker. Most deaths happen after dark, many on wide, fast arterials, and a large share occur even where streetlights are on. Arizona ranks among the deadliest states in the country for pedestrians. The pattern points to road design: crossing distance, traffic speed, and where it is safe to walk.

Hit while walking in Arizona?

A road's documented crash history can be part of your case. Our Arizona pedestrian crash guide breaks down where the deaths concentrate, the data behind them, and what to do next.

Read the Arizona pedestrian crash guide

Related: the 2024 pedestrian deaths and road-design investigation