The Finding
Loop 303 runs about 37 miles across the far West Valley, from its south end in Goodyear, past I-10, north through Glendale and Surprise, then east through Peoria to I-17 in north Phoenix.
From 2015 to 2025, the Arizona Department of Transportation recorded 40 people killed in crashes on the freeway and its ramps.
Those deaths didn’t spread evenly along the road.
A third of the deaths came on the 3 miles from Camelback Road to Northern Avenue, with the Glendale Avenue interchange in the middle. That’s about a twelfth of the road. Twelve of those 13 deaths came in 2021 or later.
How I Counted
The crash records come from ADOT’s own crash database, which AZ Law Now obtained through a public records request. They cover every reported crash on a state highway from 2015 through 2025, at every level of injury.
I kept crashes on the Loop 303 mainline and its ramps. Each mainline crash went onto the map by its ADOT milepost. Each ramp crash went to the interchange it belongs to.
To check the deaths, I matched them against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the federal census of fatal crashes. For 2015 to 2024 it counts 30 fatal crashes and 34 deaths on Loop 303. ADOT’s records count 32 deaths over the same years.
Some stretches carry far more traffic than others, so I measured deaths against vehicle miles traveled. Those come from ADOT’s 2024 traffic counts, applied to 2021 through 2025, so treat each rate as an estimate.
Five Times the Death Rate
I split Loop 303 into five stretches at interchanges drivers know. From 2021 to 2025, the stretch from Camelback Road to Northern Avenue ran about 2.88 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles.
The rest of Loop 303 ran about 0.61. The next highest stretch, Bell Road to Grand Avenue in Surprise, ran 1.55.
That stretch carries about 13% of the road’s traffic. From 2021 to 2025 it accounted for 12 of Loop 303’s 29 deaths.
Fewer Crashes, Worse Ones
The Camelback-to-Northern stretch doesn’t log an unusual number of crashes. For its traffic, it sees fewer than the miles just north of it. What stands out is how badly people get hurt.
Counting deaths and suspected serious injuries together, those 3 miles ran about 5.5 per 100 million vehicle miles from 2021 to 2025. The rest of Loop 303 ran about 2.1.
The 11 fatal crashes there since 2015 don’t share one cause. Five involved a single vehicle. Two were head-on crashes, which on a divided freeway usually means a driver going the wrong way. Two were rear-end crashes. Six of the 11 happened after dark.
In April 2025, a crash involving six vehicles and a truck near Glendale Avenue killed one person and seriously injured two more.
The other driver’s insurer starts building its version of the crash right away. You should have someone building yours.
Call (602) 654-0202, 24/7, or get your free case review. No fee unless we recover.
Where Crashes Pile Up
By sheer count, the busiest miles are farther north. The 6 miles from Northern Avenue to Bell Road logged 1,042 of Loop 303’s 2,485 crashes from 2021 to 2025, about 42%.
For the traffic it carries, that stretch saw about twice the crash rate of the rest of the road. The interchanges do much of the damage. The Bell Road interchange in Surprise logged 254 ramp crashes in those five years, more than any other on Loop 303. Waddell Road was next, with 166.
More Than Twice the Crashes of 2015
Loop 303 has filled in with homes, warehouses, and factories, and its crash count has climbed with them. ADOT recorded 220 crashes in 2015 and 581 in 2024. The 2025 count, 577, was close behind.
The number of people hurt rose faster. In 2015, crashes on Loop 303 hurt 85 people. In 2025 they hurt 260, and killed 8, more than any other year in ADOT’s records.
Traffic grew over the same years, and ADOT’s crash file alone can’t say how much of the rise that explains. But the toll on the people using the road is real either way.
Semis on a Commuter Loop
Most of the Valley’s loop freeways are commuter roads. Loop 303 also serves the distribution centers along the West Valley’s freight corridor, and its traffic shows it.
ADOT’s 2024 counts put combination trucks at about 5.4% of Loop 303 traffic, about twice their share on Loop 101. On the south end near I-10 in Goodyear, trucks of all kinds make up nearly 15% of what’s on the road.
The crash records follow. From 2021 to 2025, a semi was involved in about 1 in 19 crashes on the Loop 303 mainline. On Loop 101 it was about 1 in 110, and on Loop 202 about 1 in 60.
Between Bell Road and Grand Avenue in Surprise, a truck of some kind was involved in 1 in 4 crashes.
Most of the Injured Weren’t in the Truck
From 2021 to 2025, ADOT recorded 363 crashes on Loop 303 that involved a medium or heavy truck. Sixty-eight of them hurt someone, injuring 93 people. Fifty-nine of the injured were outside the truck.
The most common truck crashes were same-direction sideswipes, with 141, and rear-end crashes, with 102. Those are the lane-change and following-distance crashes that happen where trucks merge with fast commuter traffic.
Truck crashes on Loop 303 rarely killed anyone before 2024. Then four people died in truck crashes in two years, three of them in 2025.
What This Means
On Loop 303, the people hurt and killed are mostly commuters and local drivers. Of the 34 people killed in the federal fatal crash records for 2015 to 2024, 28 were drivers and 4 were passengers.
A crash on a freeway like this can involve more than one at-fault party. A distracted or impaired driver, a trucking company, a work-zone contractor, or the road itself may each matter. The police report, vehicle data, and any truck’s driver logs each hold part of the answer.
If you or someone in your family was hurt on Loop 303, talk to a lawyer before you give a recorded statement to anyone’s insurer. Our Goodyear car crash lawyers and Goodyear truck crash lawyers handle crashes across the West Valley, and the first conversation is free.
For eleven years, the 3 miles from Camelback Road to Northern Avenue have been the deadliest on Loop 303. Most of that toll came in just the last five.
Dashcam video, vehicle data, and 911 recordings can be erased or overwritten if no one asks for them in time. We move quickly to lock that evidence down.
Call (602) 654-0202 now or start your free case review. No fee unless we recover.
Related Coverage
For crashes on the freeway Loop 303 meets in Goodyear, see our I-10 crash data for Buckeye and Goodyear. For surface streets, see the West Valley’s most dangerous intersections. Head-on crashes like the ones near Glendale Avenue are covered in our wrong-way crash investigation.
If a truck was involved, see Ron DeBrigida’s guide to Arizona truck crash law, our Buckeye truck crash lawyers, and how I-10 truck crash deaths rose 76% between Phoenix and Tucson. Where Loop 303 ends at I-17, see where I-17 truck crash deaths cluster past Anthem.
Frequently asked questions
How many people have died in crashes on Loop 303?
What is the most dangerous part of Loop 303?
Are crashes on Loop 303 going up?
How often are semis involved in Loop 303 crashes?
How many people are hurt in truck crashes on Loop 303?
How did AZ Law Now count Loop 303 crashes?
What should I do after a crash on Loop 303?
Sources & references
- Arizona Department of Transportation. Arizona Crash Information System (ACIS) crash records, 2015 to 2025. Obtained by AZ Law Now through a public records request, October 2026.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2025). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2015 to 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
- Arizona Department of Transportation. (2025). HPMS 2024 data and AADT sections: traffic, truck traffic, and mileposts for SR 303, SR 101, and SR 202. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://services6.arcgis.com/clPWQMwZfdWn4MQZ/ArcGIS/rest/services/HPMS_2024_Data/FeatureServer
- Arizona State Legislature. ARS 12-542: Limitation of Actions, Personal Injury. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00542.htm
- Arizona State Legislature. ARS 12-611: Wrongful Death Action. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00611.htm
- Arizona State Legislature. ARS 12-821.01: Notice of Claim Against a Public Entity. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00821-01.htm