AZ Law Now · Data Report · Data Year 2024
Phoenix's Deadliest Intersections
We read Arizona's crash record the way we read a case. We pulled the state and federal data and computed the lethality ourselves: which behaviors, which hours, and which corners actually turn a crash into a death.
people killed on Arizona roads in a single year.
3.36 killed every day · one life lost every 7 hours, 9 minutes
Every year the Arizona Department of Transportation publishes the state's crash record: thousands of pages of tables counting who died, where, and how. Most people never read it.
We did. Here is what the data says, finding by finding, with every number you can copy and use.
Arizona · 2024 crash record
A death on Arizona roads every seven hours
1,228 people killed in 2024
In 2024, 1,228 people were killed on Arizona roads. That is one life lost every 7 hours and 9 minutes.
The toll fell about 6 percent from 2023, when 1,308 people died. The scale did not change. This is a public-health emergency that plays out one crash at a time.
Behind the single number sit 54,426 people injured and 121,107 reported crashes in one year. The deaths are the sharp edge of a problem that reaches tens of thousands of Arizona families. We pulled the full crash record and computed the numbers the state does not put in a headline.
Computed · lethality per crash
Running a red light is 2.32x deadlier than speeding
2.32x more likely to kill, per crash
Speeding causes far more crashes than running a red light. But per crash, running a red light is more likely to kill.
We took ADOT's own counts and computed the fatal rate for each. Running a red light produced 5,891 crashes in 2024, and 64 of them were deadly. Speeding produced 32,466 crashes, and 152 were deadly.
Run the math and a red-light crash is 2.32 times more likely to be fatal than a speeding crash. Speed is the volume problem. The red light is the lethality problem.
Computed · by hour of day
A midnight crash is nearly 8x more likely to kill
7.8x deadlier at midnight than at 4 PM
When you drive changes whether you live. We sorted crashes by the hour they happened, in our own analysis of the full crash record.
A crash at midnight is nearly 8 times more likely to be fatal than the same crash at 4 in the afternoon.
Late-night roads carry fewer cars, but the crashes are deadlier. Higher speeds, less light, more impaired driving, and slower help all stack the odds. The clock on the dashboard is a risk gauge.
Where the crashes are
Six in ten injury crashes happen at an intersection
6 in 10 injury crashes are at an intersection
In metro Phoenix, the intersection is where the crash happens. The Maricopa Association of Governments found that 6 in 10 injury crashes happen at an intersection, and roughly 4 in 10 traffic deaths happen there too.
The open road is not the danger people picture. The corner is. It is where paths cross, where decisions get made in a fraction of a second, and where one driver's mistake meets another doing everything right.
Computed · manner of collision
The left turn is the intersection kill
3.2x deadlier than a rear-end crash
One move at the corner stands out. We computed the fatal rate by manner of collision, and a left-turn crash is 3.2 times more likely to be fatal than a rear-end.
The turn across oncoming traffic, the moment a driver misjudges a gap or the light, is the signature intersection crash. It is also the one a protected left-turn signal is built to prevent.
Where a city paints the lines and times the lights decides how often that turn ends in a funeral instead of a fender.
The deadliest corners
Nine of the ten worst corners are on the west side
9 of 10 highest-risk corners on the west side
Not every corner carries the same risk. The City of Phoenix scored its intersections in its 2022 Road Safety Action Plan, weighing crash severity, frequency, and type.
The ten highest-risk corners read like a map of the west side.
| Rank | Intersection | Crashes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75th Ave & Indian School Rd | 251 |
| 2 | 67th Ave & Indian School Rd | 273 |
| 3 | 67th Ave & McDowell Rd | 246 |
| 4 | 99th Ave & Lower Buckeye Rd | 316 |
| 5 | 51st Ave & McDowell Rd | 201 |
| 6 | 43rd Ave & Bethany Home Rd | 194 |
| 7 | 75th Ave & McDowell Rd | 215 |
| 8 | 27th Ave & Camelback Rd | 203 |
| 9 | 7th Ave & Indian School Rd | 191 |
| 10 | 75th Ave & Thomas Rd | 192 |
Ranked by the city's composite safety score (severity, frequency, and crash type), which is why the reported-crash column is not in strict order. On the city's own list, Indian School Road holds five of the twenty worst corners. By the Maricopa Association of Governments' separate 2018 to 2022 analysis, 9 of the 10 highest-risk intersections in metro Phoenix sit on the west side.
Computed · economic loss
Crashes drain $32.4M from Maricopa County every day
$32.4M lost to crashes every single day
Crashes are also an economic event. Using ADOT's economic-loss figures, we computed what Maricopa County loses: about $32.4 million every single day.
Across 2024, the county's crashes cost an estimated $11.8 billion, roughly 56.6 percent of Arizona's entire crash bill.
That is the price of the status quo, paid in medical bills, lost wages, wrecked property, and costs that never show up on an invoice. Safety spending is not a cost. Set against $11.8 billion, it is the cheaper option.
The accountability
Funded, not fixed
Phoenix does not lack the data, or the money. The city named one corridor of Indian School Road among its deadliest in its own Road Safety Action Plan, then the federal government committed nearly $25 million to rebuild it. The work still does not break ground until 2028.
- 2022
The City of Phoenix names Indian School Road from 91st to 39th Avenue a High Injury Network priority. Its own records count 39 fatal crashes and 85 serious-injury crashes on that stretch from 2017 to 2021.
City of Phoenix Road Safety Action Plan (adopted Sept 7, 2022)
- 2023
The U.S. Department of Transportation commits $24.96 million through its Safe Streets and Roads for All program to rebuild the corridor with better lighting, raised medians, crossings, and modern signals.
USDOT Safe Streets and Roads for All grant, City of Phoenix (Dec 2023)
- 2028
Construction is anticipated to begin, roughly six years after the city formally named the road one of its deadliest. The corridor carries traffic as it is until then.
City of Phoenix project page, ReVISIONing Indian School Road
We read the public record, not a press release. The danger was documented, the money was committed, and the fix is still years out.
We don't guess. We measure.
Read the full Indian School Road corridor investigation.
The receipts
Sources and method
Statewide figures are ADOT data year 2024. The kill rates, lethality ratios, and economic-cost figures are computed by AZ Law Now from the published counts below: red-light lethality from ADOT Table 5-11, the hour-of-day ratio from Table 3-7, the manner-of-collision ratio from Table 3-1, and economic loss from Table 1-4.
The intersection share uses Maricopa Association of Governments data from 2018 to 2022 and is cross-checked against NHTSA FARS 2022 to 2023. The ranked corners come from the City of Phoenix Road Safety Action Plan adopted in 2022.
- 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
- Maricopa Association of Governments. (2023). Regional intersection safety analysis: Network screening methodology for intersections (NSM-I), 2018 to 2022. kjzz.org/content/1864266/these-are-most-dangerous-intersections-metro-phoenix
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2024). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2022 to 2023 national file [Data set]. U.S. Department of Transportation. nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
- City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department. (2022). Road Safety Action Plan (Vision Zero), adopted September 7, 2022. phoenix.gov/streets/roadsafety
- U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, FY2023 implementation awards. transportation.gov/grants/SS4A
Questions, answered
Frequently asked
What is the deadliest intersection in Phoenix?
By the City of Phoenix's own 2022 Road Safety Action Plan, 75th Avenue and Indian School Road carries the highest intersection safety score in the city, with 67th Avenue and Indian School Road close behind. Indian School Road holds five of the city's twenty highest-risk corners, and 9 of the 10 highest-risk intersections by regional analysis sit on the west side.
How many people died on Arizona roads in 2024?
1,228 people were killed on Arizona roads in 2024, according to ADOT's Crash Facts. That is 3.36 deaths a day, or one life lost every 7 hours and 9 minutes. The toll fell about 6 percent from 1,308 deaths in 2023.
Is running a red light more dangerous than speeding?
Speeding causes many more crashes. But per crash, running a red light is more likely to be fatal. Our analysis of ADOT's 2024 counts found a red-light crash is 2.32 times more likely to kill than a crash caused by driving too fast for conditions.
What time of day are crashes most deadly in Arizona?
Late at night. A crash at midnight is nearly 8 times more likely to be fatal than the same crash at 4 in the afternoon, in our analysis of Arizona's crash record. Lower light, higher speeds, and impaired driving make the overnight hours the deadliest on the road.
Why hasn't Phoenix fixed its most dangerous roads?
It is often a question of timing, not money. The city named the Indian School Road corridor a high-injury priority in 2022, and the federal government committed $24.96 million to rebuild it in 2023. Even so, construction is not expected to begin until 2028, roughly six years after the road was flagged.
Hurt in a Phoenix intersection crash?
A corridor's documented crash history can be part of the record. Our Phoenix car accident lawyer guide breaks down the deadliest intersections, the data behind them, and what to do next.
Read the Phoenix car accident lawyer guide