Fatal car crashes in Buffalo, NY: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 95 fatal crashes inside Buffalo, in which 104 people died. The roads with the most were Bailey Ave (US-62) with 10 fatal crashes, I-190 with 8 and Main St (State Route 5) with 7.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Buffalo: Buffalo, NY injury guide.

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS, is a national census of crashes on public roads that kill someone within 30 days. Its 2023 records assign Buffalo 20 of these crashes, every one in Erie County and on an urban road, and 22 people lost their lives in them. With two deaths more than crashes, one crash must have claimed three lives or two crashes two each. Clear skies prevailed in 11 crashes and clouds in 7, with rain in the other 2; snow does not appear in the weather codes at all.

People outside vehicles figure prominently. In 9 crashes, or 45 percent, at least one pedestrian, cyclist or other non-motorist was involved. FARS calls the first moment of injury or damage the first harmful event, and in 8 crashes that event was a vehicle hitting someone on foot, with a bicycle rider hit first in 1 more, so those 9 are the non-motorist crashes. Seven crashes opened with two moving vehicles colliding. The last 4 began with a tree, a concrete traffic barrier, a utility pole or light support, and a fall or jump from a vehicle.

Thirteen crashes, 65 percent, came after dark; of those, 10 scenes had street lighting and 3 had none. Six crashes happened in daylight, 1 at dawn. Grouped by the hour FARS records, the crashes fall evenly on either side of an overnight window (9 p.m. through the 4 a.m. hour), 10 inside it and 10 outside. Because the dark crashes outnumber the overnight ones by 3, at least 3 crashes in darkness came in the evening or early-morning hours.

Ten crashes occurred at locations coded as non-junction, and 7 were intersection-related; one each happened inside an intersection, on a through roadway and in an area tied to an entrance or exit ramp. Saturday led the week with 5 crashes; Sunday, Monday and Friday had 4 each, Tuesday 2 and Thursday 1, and Wednesday none. June recorded 5, May and December 3 apiece, and April and October none. Counts this small swing easily from year to year, so they are not proof of a lasting pattern.

Half the crashes, 10, were on arterial roads, the main routes that carry traffic through a city: 6 on other principal arterials and 4 on minor ones. Interstates and other freeways or expressways had 3 each, local streets 3 and a major collector 1. So 16 of the 20 crashes happened on interstates, freeways or arterials, and the other 4 on local streets or the collector.

The summary names the 12 road entries recorded most often, and they cover 18 of the 20 crashes; the other 2 were on roads outside that list. State Route 5, coded together with Main Street, leads with 4. I-190 appears twice as a plain entry and once as a ramp, 3 crashes when the codings are combined. Roads carrying more traffic naturally collect more crashes, so read the counts below as a map of where people died, not as a danger ranking:

• SR-5 Main Street: 4 fatal crashes.
• I-190, plain and ramp codings combined: 3 (2 plain, 1 ramp).
• SR-33 and US-62 Bailey Avenue: 2 each.
• McKinley Parkway, Broadway, Howard Street and Elmwood Avenue: 1 each.
• Perry Street, East Ferry Street and St. Florian Street: 1 each.

The FARS summary records conditions, not causes. It holds nothing on speed, impairment, phone use or how many people walk along a given street, so any explanation for the 9 non-motorist crashes is a hypothesis. Possible contributors include the number of people walking or cycling beside busy arterials, the spacing of marked crossings and how hard it is to see someone in dark clothing at night. Police reports for the individual crashes, and data from later years, would be needed to test those ideas.

Darkness deserves particular attention because people on foot and on bikes are much harder to spot at night, and NHTSA's pedestrian safety guidance urges drivers to be especially alert in low-visibility conditions such as darkness. Lighting and crash type are reported in separate tables, though, so the summary cannot tell how many of the 9 non-motorist crashes fell among the 13 dark ones. Eight crashes occurred in or near intersections, where turning drivers and people crossing share the same space, but the data does not identify which crashes those were.

New York's insurance system adds its own layer. As a no-fault state, New York generally routes the first payments for medical care and lost income through no-fault benefits, which are paid regardless of who caused the crash, and no-fault systems generally limit lawsuits for pain and suffering to injuries that meet a legal threshold. Which policy pays a pedestrian or cyclist, and whether a particular injury clears the threshold, are questions to put to the insurer and an attorney. For any lawsuit, fault still matters, but pure comparative negligence reduces recovery rather than barring it.

Imagine that on a December evening you were crossing a busy Buffalo arterial on foot and a left-turning driver hit you. Your injuries were a broken leg and a shoulder that needed surgery. The hospital and doctors billed $90,000, and you went four months without a paycheck, a $20,000 loss. These figures are invented to show how New York's rules fit together; they do not describe a real case or predict any outcome.

Because New York is a no-fault state, your first claim for medical bills and lost wages would generally be for no-fault benefits, which do not depend on who was to blame. Assume, for this example, that an attorney concluded your injuries were serious enough to support a lawsuit for pain and suffering against the driver. The driver's insurer then argues you crossed outside the crosswalk and assigns you 25 percent of the fault. If your total damages were valued at $200,000, pure comparative negligence would cut the claim to $150,000 rather than eliminate it.

How no-fault benefits already paid are credited against that figure is a further question for an attorney. Collecting is another: New York requires only 25/50/10 in liability coverage, and a driver with a bare-minimum policy could pay at most $25,000 toward your injuries, far less than $150,000. Underinsured motorist coverage, which can pay when the at-fault driver's limits fall short, may matter. And if a broken streetlight or city signal had contributed, a notice of claim to the municipality would generally be due within 90 days. Only an attorney reviewing a real crash can say whether a claim exists.

Most of Buffalo's 2023 crashes happened in darkness and nearly half involved someone outside a vehicle, so the checklist below stresses visibility, location and the no-fault paperwork that comes first in New York. It applies to drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists alike, and a relative can take on several items while the injured person is in treatment. Starting within days matters, because scenes change and video is often recorded over.

• Call 911 and ask which agency is preparing the crash report and how you can get it.
• Tell your own insurer about the crash right away and ask how, and by when, to apply for no-fault benefits.
• Get medical care promptly and keep every bill, record and receipt, since they bear on no-fault benefits and on any later claim.
• Photograph the lighting, crosswalks, signals and vehicle positions, then come back at the same time of day to show what drivers could see.
• If you were walking or cycling, write down where you were crossing or riding and what you were wearing.
• Collect witness names and phone numbers, and ask nearby businesses to save camera footage.
• If a city vehicle, signal, streetlight or road defect may be involved, raise the 90-day notice of claim deadline with an attorney immediately.

New York is a no-fault state, as are Florida, Michigan and New Jersey. In general terms, no-fault means an injured person turns first to no-fault insurance benefits for medical bills and lost income, which are paid whoever caused the crash, and a lawsuit seeking pain and suffering damages from the at-fault driver is reserved for injuries that meet a legal threshold. In fault-based states such as Ohio and California, the at-fault driver's liability insurer is generally the first place to claim, and no injury threshold must be met before seeking pain and suffering damages.

New York uses pure comparative negligence: an injured person can recover even when mostly at fault, though the award shrinks by his or her share. Washington, Arizona and California do the same. Ohio and Texas end recovery once fault exceeds 50 percent, Colorado and Utah end it at 50 percent, and North Carolina and Maryland apply contributory negligence, which can deny recovery for even 1 percent of fault. New York's minimums are 25/50/10: up to $25,000 when one person is hurt, $50,000 for everyone hurt in a crash and $10,000 for property, under the policy in force on the crash date.

Most New York injury lawsuits must be filed within three years under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5). A claim against a municipality, such as the City of Buffalo, comes with a much earlier step, a notice of claim within 90 days under Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e. Deadlines vary widely elsewhere, from two years in California and Ohio to six in Minnesota and one in Tennessee. Wrongful death claims may run on a different clock. New York injury suits are generally filed in the Supreme Court, which in New York is a trial court, not the highest court.

Buffalo's 2023 record combines a large share of non-motorist crashes, 9 of 20, with frequent deaths after dark and 4 fatal crashes on SR-5 Main Street. New York's rules shape each claim that follows: no-fault benefits come first, pure comparative negligence reduces but does not erase a partly at-fault person's damages, most lawsuits have three years, and claims against municipalities need notice within 90 days. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, so ask what percentage the fee takes and how case costs are handled before signing an agreement.

Ask Legal Matters is a lead-generation service, not a law firm, and it offers a free claim-review request service for people hurt in crashes and for families who lost someone. It does not provide legal advice. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in New York. Deciding whether a claim exists, and how New York's no-fault rules bear on it, takes an attorney's review of the facts. If a Buffalo crash injured you or someone close to you, you can request a free claim review.

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