Fatal crashes in Daytona Beach, FL: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 102 fatal crashes inside Daytona Beach, in which 108 people died. The roads with the most were US-92 with 12 fatal crashes, State Route 5A with 9 and US-1 (street name not recorded) with 8.

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

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), run by NHTSA, logs every fatal crash on a public road in the country, with its location, hour, lighting, collision type and the people involved. For Daytona Beach, the 2020-2024 files list 102 fatal crashes and 108 deaths. The counts for 2020 through 2023 come from NHTSA's Final Files; those for 2024 come from its Annual Report File, the first release for that year, and may be revised.

The direction over the five years is downward. Daytona Beach recorded 25 fatal crashes in 2020, 23 in 2021 and 25 in 2022, then 15 in 2023 and 14 in 2024; deaths went from 27, 24 and 25 to 18 and 14. The first three years hold 73 of the 102 crashes. Two lower years do not prove the roads became safer, and the 2024 figure is preliminary, but 2024 has the fewest crashes and deaths of the five years.

Daytona Beach's 108 deaths rank 12th among the 239 Florida places with fatal crash records; the state's top five were Jacksonville (816), Miami (333), Tampa (317), Fort Lauderdale (222) and Orlando (219). Volusia County recorded 594 fatal crashes and 634 deaths over the same years, and the city accounts for 17 percent of each. The other 492 fatal crashes and 526 deaths happened elsewhere in the county.

US-92 had more fatal crashes than any other road in Daytona Beach: 12, which killed 16 people, the latest in 2024. That is the widest gap between crashes and deaths on the list. Citywide there were 6 more deaths than fatal crashes over the five years, and 4 of those 6 came on US-92. State Route 5A followed with 9 fatal crashes and 9 deaths, the latest in 2023. State Road A1A had 4, the latest in 2024, and Midway Ave had 2, also with one in 2024.

Below US-92 and State Route 5A, US-1 (street name not recorded) had 8 fatal crashes and 9 deaths, the latest in 2023, and State Route 430 (street name not recorded) had 8 crashes and 8 deaths, with one in 2024. Ridgewood Ave (US-1) had 6, State Route 483 (street name not recorded) had 5 crashes that killed 6 people, Clyde Morris Blvd (State Route 483) had 4 and Mason Ave (State Route 430) had 3. Of the 10 roads in the table, 4 had a fatal crash in 2024: US-92, State Route 430 (street name not recorded), State Road A1A and Midway Ave.

Vehicle-to-vehicle collisions make up a large part of Daytona Beach's record. In 47 crashes, the first harmful event, meaning the first event that caused injury or damage, was a collision with another vehicle in transport (FARS's term for one moving or stopped in the roadway), and 32 of those were angle collisions, in which one vehicle strikes another at an angle, typically as their paths cross. There were 9 rear-end collisions, 5 head-on and 1 same-direction sideswipe. The other 55 crashes began with something else, most often a vehicle striking a pedestrian (23), then a curb (8), a cyclist (7) or a rollover (5).

Intersections stand out. Thirty-seven crashes happened in an intersection and 19 were intersection-related, 56 in all, or 55 percent, while 42 were not at a junction, FARS's non-junction category. More than half the crashes, 54, involved two or more vehicles, and 48 involved one. An intersection crash usually turns on who had the right of way, so signal timing, witness accounts and video from nearby cameras can decide a claim.

The evening was the most common time: 38 crashes happened between 6 p.m. and midnight, 24 between noon and 6 p.m., 22 between midnight and 6 a.m. and 18 between 6 a.m. and noon. Fifty-six happened after dark, 41 of them on lighted roads, 14 on unlit roads and 1 with the lighting unknown, while 39 happened in daylight. Sunday (21), Friday (20) and Saturday (18) together had 59 of the 102 crashes. The weather was clear for 86, rainy for 10 and cloudy for 6.

Motorcycle and moped riders account for a large share of Daytona Beach's deaths: 45 of the 108 people killed, 42 percent. FARS counts riders as drivers or passengers of a vehicle in traffic, and the city's 74 deaths in those two groups, 61 drivers and 13 passengers, include the 45 riders. In other words, 61 percent of the people killed in or on a vehicle were on a motorcycle or moped.

The other 34 people killed were outside a vehicle: 23 pedestrians, 6 bicyclists, 1 rider of another kind of pedal cycle and 4 people on personal conveyances, devices such as wheelchairs or skateboards. Counted by crash, 34 of the 102, exactly one in three, involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other person outside a vehicle. For riders and their families, the claim questions differ from a car crash: injuries tend to be severe, and fault disputes often center on whether a turning or crossing driver saw the rider. The insurance that applies to a rider depends on the policies involved, so it should be checked early.

Suppose that in 2025 you were driving through a Daytona Beach intersection on a Friday evening when a driver from the cross street entered on what you say was a red light and struck your door, an angle collision. You suffered broken ribs and a shoulder injury needing surgery, with $50,000 in medical bills and two months of missed work. Since it happened in 2025, Florida's current deadline of two years and its 51 percent bar govern the claim. The scenario and its numbers are hypothetical.

Your own PIP coverage pays first under Florida's no-fault system, up to its limit, whatever the other driver did. The rest of the claim runs against the other driver, and it can include pain and suffering only if the injury meets the serious-injury threshold in Florida's no-fault law; suppose it does, and those losses are valued at $150,000. The other driver insists their light was green, there is no camera footage, and the insurer opens by putting the fault at 50 percent on each side.

Here Florida's line matters exactly. At 50 percent you are not more than 50 percent at fault, so you would still recover half, $75,000. At 51 percent, the bar would leave you with nothing from that driver. A witness who saw the cross-street signal, or video from a business at the corner, could move your share to 20 percent and the figure to $120,000. Whether that money can be collected depends on whether the other driver bought bodily-injury liability coverage, which Florida does not require.

Start with Florida's reporting rule. If anyone is hurt or killed, or the apparent damage to a vehicle or property reaches $2,000, the driver must tell the police immediately by the quickest means: the local police for a crash inside a city, otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol station. The figure was $500 before October 1, 2026. A damage-only crash that needs no police report still calls for the driver's written self-report to FLHSMV within 10 days, on form HSMV 90011S (Fla. Stat. §§ 316.065, 316.066(1)(e)).

If you were riding, leave the motorcycle, helmet and gear as they are after the crash; their damage helps show the direction and force of the impact. At an intersection, note which signal you saw, get the names and phone numbers of witnesses and look for cameras on nearby buildings, then ask for the footage before it is recorded over. In an angle crash where both drivers claim a green light, a neutral witness can settle fault.

• Before leaving the scene, ask which police agency is handling the crash and for its report number; copies can be requested through FLHSMV's Florida Crash Portal.
• Open a claim with your own insurer quickly so PIP benefits can begin, and keep every bill.
• Count two years from the crash for a negligence claim and two years from the death for a wrongful death claim.

Daytona Beach crash lawsuits are generally filed in the Volusia County Circuit Court, the county's general trial court, though an attorney may find that another court is the proper one. The general filing deadline for negligence claims that arose after March 24, 2023, is two years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)). When a crash causes a death, the family's wrongful death claim has two years from the date of death (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e)).

The clock does not stop while an insurer reviews the claim. A claim that has not settled with time running short is usually filed as a lawsuit to preserve it, and talks can continue after filing. Two years is the general rule and exceptions exist, so an attorney should confirm the deadline, especially for a crash on or before March 24, 2023, when the older four-year period may apply instead.

Insurance is the first way Florida's rules shape a Daytona Beach claim. Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey are no-fault states, where a person's own personal injury protection pays first and suits for pain and suffering are generally limited to more serious injuries. Florida's required minimums are $10,000 of PIP and $10,000 of property damage coverage. Bodily-injury liability coverage is not required, so the at-fault driver may have no coverage for your injuries at all.

Fault is the second. Florida's modified comparative negligence rule with a 51 percent bar lets you recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault, with the award reduced by your share. HB 837 adopted that rule in 2023 and, for negligence claims that arose after March 24, 2023, cut the deadline from four years to two. Advice built on another state's rules can be wrong in Florida, so a Daytona Beach crash should be checked against Florida law.

Sorting out PIP, the other driver's coverage and the fault split takes someone who knows Florida law. 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 Florida, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say whether there is a claim; most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you or someone in your family was hurt in a Daytona Beach crash, you can request a free case review.

• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Davie?
• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Miami Gardens?
• Which U.S. cities had the most fatal car accidents in 2023?
• What should you do after a car accident?

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

• Daytona Beach, 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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