Fatal car crashes in Clearwater, FL: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 61 fatal crashes inside Clearwater, in which 64 people died. The roads with the most were State Route 60 (street name not recorded) with 22 fatal crashes, US-19 with 9 and Gulf To Bay Blvd (State Route 60) with 5.

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

Each fatal crash on a public road in the United States becomes a case in FARS, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). For Clearwater, the 2020-2024 cases number 61 fatal crashes, in which 64 people died. The cases for 2020 to 2023 come from NHTSA's Final Files. Those for 2024 come from the Annual Report File, NHTSA's first release for that year, and may be revised.

The five years began with the lowest count by far. Clearwater recorded 4 fatal crashes in 2020, then 19 in 2021, the most of any year, followed by 9 in 2022, 13 in 2023 and 16 in 2024. Deaths were 4, 20, 9, 14 and 17, one more than the crash count in each of 2021, 2023 and 2024. The last four years hold 57 of the 61 crashes, but numbers this small swing widely, and the 2024 figures can still change.

Pinellas County, which includes Clearwater, recorded 573 fatal crashes and 609 deaths over the same period, so the city's share is 11 percent of each. Statewide, Florida's files hold 15,959 fatal crashes and 17,131 deaths. Among the Florida places in our guides, Clearwater's 64 deaths rank 22nd; the list runs from Jacksonville's 816 at the top through Miami's 333, Tampa's 317 and Fort Lauderdale's 222 to Orlando's 219 in fifth place.

One row stands far above the rest of Clearwater's road table. State Route 60 (street name not recorded) had 22 fatal crashes that killed 24 people from 2020 through 2024, the latest in 2024, which is 36 percent of the city's fatal crashes and 24 of its 64 deaths. The next row, US-19, had 9 crashes and 10 deaths, also with one in 2024, a gap of 13 crashes. They are the only two rows with more deaths than crashes.

Gulf To Bay Blvd (State Route 60) is third, with 5 fatal crashes and 5 deaths, the latest in 2024. State Route 580 had 4, the latest in 2023; Belcher Rd 3, the latest in 2024; and Drew St (State Route 590) 2, the latest in 2022. The six rows hold 45 of the 61 fatal crashes, 74 percent, and 48 of the 64 deaths, exactly three in four, so 16 crashes were on roads outside the table. The counts mark where people died, not who caused a crash.

Light conditions split evenly in Clearwater: 30 fatal crashes in daylight and 30 after dark, 28 of the dark ones on lighted roads and only 2 on unlit ones, with 1 more at dusk. The clock tells a different story: 27 of the 61 crashes, 44 percent, happened in the evening, between 6 p.m. and midnight, while noon to 6 p.m. had 14, 6 a.m. to noon 12 and midnight to 6 a.m. 8. Tuesday had the most of any day, 12, ahead of Saturday's 11 and Sunday's 10, and Wednesday had 5.

A collision with another motor vehicle in transport, meaning one moving or stopped in the roadway, was the most common first harmful event, FARS's name for the first event to cause injury or damage: 24 crashes began that way, 14 of them angle crashes, 6 rear-end and 4 head-on. A vehicle striking a pedestrian came first in 21. The rest began with a curb (3), a person on a personal conveyance (3), a cyclist (2), a traffic signal support (2), a utility pole or light support (2) or another object or event.

Thirty-four crashes were coded non-junction, meaning they were not at an intersection, driveway, ramp or other junction; 22 were at an intersection or related to one, and 4 were related to a driveway. Thirty-six involved one vehicle, 20 involved two and 5 involved three or more. The weather was clear for 55 crashes, and 2 were coded in a work zone, 1 of them a construction zone. FARS classed all 61 as urban.

Drivers were the largest group among Clearwater's 64 dead, 29, and 8 passengers also died. Twenty-two pedestrians were killed, 34 percent of all deaths, along with 2 bicyclists and 3 people on personal conveyances, the FARS category for devices such as skateboards and wheelchairs: 27 people outside a vehicle in all. Twenty-six of the 61 crashes, 43 percent, involved at least one pedestrian, cyclist or other person who was not in a vehicle.

Riders stand out among the vehicle occupants. Twenty of those killed were on a motorcycle or moped, 31 percent of all deaths and more than half of the 37 drivers and passengers who died; FARS counts riders within those two groups. Angle crashes were the most common collision between vehicles in Clearwater's records, and for a rider hit in one, a claim often turns on whether the other driver turned or pulled out into the motorcycle's path and could have seen it in time.

This example is invented; none of its facts or numbers comes from a real case. Suppose that on a weekday afternoon in 2026 you were driving through Clearwater when a car pulled out of a business driveway into the side of yours. Your neck was strained, your shoulder needed surgery, and your medical bills came to $45,000. Your own personal injury protection (PIP), which Florida requires at $10,000, pays covered costs first, up to that limit, whichever driver was at fault.

Whether you can claim more from the other driver depends on the injury. A pain-and-suffering claim against the at-fault driver is generally allowed only when the injury meets Florida's tort threshold, which state law defines. A neck strain that heals completely, leaving no significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, generally would not meet it; a shoulder that never regains its full use might. The surgeon's notes on lasting effects can therefore matter more to the claim than photographs of the cars.

Florida allows a claim against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only when the injury involves significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability (other than scarring or disfigurement), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death (Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2)). Now suppose the shoulder is rated permanently impaired and the losses beyond your PIP benefits, with pain and suffering counted, come to $100,000. The other driver's insurer claims you were speeding and assigns you 30 percent of the fault, which under Florida's comparative rule cuts the award to $70,000; had your share been set above 50 percent, you would recover nothing.

Two practical limits remain. The insurer's 30 percent is a negotiating position, not a finding, and evidence such as a business's camera footage or the other car's event data can move it. And because Florida does not require bodily-injury liability coverage, the driver who pulled out may carry little or none, which can leave part of even a well-supported claim uncollected.

Who has to call the police, and when? Under Fla. Stat. § 316.065, the driver does, immediately and by the quickest means, whenever a crash injures or kills anyone or apparently damages any vehicle or property by $2,000 or more. Before October 1, 2026, that dollar figure was $500. Inside a city such as Clearwater the notice goes to the local police; outside city limits, to the county sheriff or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol station.

Smaller crashes still carry paperwork. If the damage does not call for a law enforcement report, the driver must send the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) a written self-report within 10 days on the Driver Report of Traffic Crash (Self Report), form HSMV 90011S (Fla. Stat. § 316.066(1)(e)). After any crash, these steps help keep the facts straight:

• Before leaving, ask which agency is writing the report and for its number; a copy is requested later through FLHSMV's Florida Crash Portal.
• At a driveway or intersection, photograph where each car stopped, the signs or signals, and any cameras facing the scene.
• Collect names and phone numbers from witnesses and passengers before they leave.
• See a doctor the same day, and keep records that describe any lasting limits.
• Call your own auto insurer soon after the crash and ask it to open a personal injury protection claim.

A lawsuit over a Clearwater crash would generally be filed in the Pinellas County Circuit Court, though some cases belong in another court and an attorney determines which. For negligence claims that arose after March 24, 2023, Florida's deadline is two years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)). That limit dates from HB 837, the 2023 law that replaced the old four-year period and introduced the 51 percent bar.

When a city, county or state agency may share responsibility, for example because a government vehicle was involved, the claim against it has its own deadline: 3 years to present it in writing, or 2 years for wrongful death (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)(a)). The time to sue after such a claim is set separately by state law. A crash while working can add a workers' compensation claim through the Florida Division of Workers' Compensation, with 30 days to notify the employer and generally two years to file.

Florida's no-fault rules shape the driveway example more than anything else: PIP pays first, and pain and suffering depends on the threshold. Michigan, New York and New Jersey also have no-fault systems, while in most at-fault states the injured person's claim begins with the other driver's liability insurer. Fault rules vary too. Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia use contributory negligence, under which even a small share of fault can generally bar recovery, so the 30 percent in the example could end the claim there.

Deadlines are the third difference. Tennessee allows one year for most injury claims. Florida allows two for negligence claims that arose after March 24, 2023, while the earlier four-year period governs claims that arose on or before that date. Florida's 51 percent bar also has a limit of its own: it does not reach medical negligence claims under chapter 766 (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)).

Whether an injury clears the threshold, and how fault splits, are questions an attorney has to weigh against the records. Ask Legal Matters is a personal injury lead-generation service that collects free case review requests from injured people in the United States and shares them with independent attorneys and law firms. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you were hurt in a crash in Clearwater, in a car, on a motorcycle or on foot, you can request a free case review.

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• What should you do after a car accident?

More on this type of claim: Car accidents: evidence, deadlines and when to ask an attorney.

• Clearwater, Florida: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Motorcycle Accident Claims: Overcoming Rider Bias and Recovering Fully

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