Fatal car crashes in Fairfield, CA: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 58 fatal crashes inside Fairfield, in which 60 people died. The roads with the most were I-80 with 19 fatal crashes, E Tabor Ave with 5 and N Texas St with 4.

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

From 2020 through 2024, NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) records 58 fatal crashes in Fairfield, and those crashes killed 60 people. FARS is the federal file of every traffic crash in which someone died, compiled from state records, with details such as the road, the hour and who was killed. Its Final Files cover 2020 to 2023, and 2024 comes from the Annual Report File, NHTSA's first release for that year, which may change once the final version appears.

The yearly totals moved within a narrow band. Fatal crashes numbered 13 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 15 in 2022, the high point, and 10 in both 2023 and 2024. Deaths matched crashes in four of the five years; the exception was 2023, when 10 crashes killed 12 people. Over the whole period, deaths exceed crashes by just 2, which means nearly every fatal crash in Fairfield's record killed one person.

Every one of Fairfield's crashes was recorded in Solano County, whose five-year totals are 231 fatal crashes and 245 deaths; the city's 58 crashes are 25 percent of the county's, and its 60 deaths are 24 percent. California's totals were 19,496 crashes and 21,077 deaths. Ranked by deaths among the California places in our guides, Fairfield is 36th, while Los Angeles, at the top, recorded 1,637.

I-80 dominates Fairfield's road table. It had 19 fatal crashes from 2020 through 2024, 33 percent of the city's total, and they killed 21 people, the latest in 2024. It is also the only road in the table with more deaths than crashes. The next road, E Tabor Ave, had 5 fatal crashes and 5 deaths, 14 crashes fewer, with its latest also in 2024, and N Texas St had 4 crashes and 4 deaths, the most recent in 2022.

I-680 had 3 fatal crashes and 3 deaths, the latest in 2024, and five more roads in the table had 2 each: Airbase Pkwy, Cordelia Rd and Travis Blvd, each with a crash as recent as 2024, Vanden Rd, last in 2023, and State Route 12, last in 2021. The nine rows hold 41 of the 58 crashes and 43 of the 60 deaths, leaving 17 crashes and 17 deaths on roads outside the table. The figures show where fatal crashes happened, not why.

Weekdays account for most of Fairfield's fatal crashes. Wednesday had 12, Friday 11, Tuesday 10 and Thursday 9, while Saturday had 8 and Sunday and Monday only 4 each, so Monday through Friday together hold 46 of the 58 crashes, 79 percent. The hours were spread more evenly than the days: the evening, 6 p.m. to midnight, had 20 crashes, the morning (6 a.m. to noon) and the afternoon (noon to 6 p.m.) had 13 each, and the overnight hours from midnight to 6 a.m. had 12.

Darkness covered 33 crashes, 57 percent, and 13 of those happened on roads with no lighting at all, against 20 on lighted roads. Daylight accounts for 19 crashes, dusk for 5 and dawn for 1. The weather was clear for 51 crashes and cloudy for 5, with rain and fog, smog or smoke recorded once each. FARS classed 56 crashes as urban and 2 as rural, and 5 happened in work zones: 1 in a construction zone and 4 in zones of unknown type.

In 41 of the 58 crashes, the first harmful event, the first thing to cause injury or damage, was not a collision with another vehicle in transport. Pedestrians were the first struck in 21 crashes, cyclists in 4 and someone on a personal conveyance in 1; the other 15 began with a rollover, a railway vehicle or an object such as a curb, tree, pole, barrier or wall. The remaining 17 crashes did start with two vehicles in transport colliding: 8 at an angle, 5 from behind, 3 as same-direction sideswipes and 1 head-on. Thirty-three crashes were non-junction, away from any intersection, driveway or interchange, and 14 were at or related to an intersection.

Drivers were the largest group among the 60 people killed, 25, and pedestrians were close behind with 21, or 35 percent. Nine passengers died, along with 4 bicyclists and 1 person on a non-motorized personal conveyance. In all, 26 of the dead, 43 percent, were outside any vehicle, and 26 of the 58 crashes involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other person outside a vehicle. Six of the people killed were on a motorcycle or moped; they are among the drivers and passengers already counted.

For someone hurt while walking or riding a bicycle, the claim generally runs against the driver's liability insurance, and the argument is usually about what each person did: where the walker or rider was, whether the driver yielded and how much either could see. In Fairfield, 13 fatal crashes happened in darkness on unlit roads, where visibility evidence can decide the outcome. Clothing, lights, reflectors and photos of the scene taken at the same hour help answer those questions later.

This example is hypothetical, and its round numbers are chosen only to show how the rules work. Suppose traffic slows on a Fairfield freeway on a weekday morning and the driver behind you, looking at a phone, does not brake in time; the impact pushes your car into the vehicle ahead. Your medical bills are $35,000, you lose $15,000 in pay and your pain and suffering is valued at $50,000, for $100,000 in all. The rear driver's insurer says you had just cut into the lane and assigns you 10 percent of the fault.

California uses pure comparative negligence, so a share of fault reduces your award without ending it. At 10 percent, the $100,000 becomes $90,000. If the insurer's story about the lane change were accepted and your share rose to 40 percent, you would receive $60,000, and even at 80 percent you would still recover $20,000. Dashcam video, the cars' event data recorders and where the damage sits on each vehicle are the kind of proof that settles the percentage.

Then comes the limit of the rear driver's coverage. California is not a no-fault state, so this claim goes to that driver's liability insurer, and the state's minimum policy, 30/60/15, pays up to $30,000 for one person's injuries, $60,000 for all injuries in the crash and $15,000 for property damage. With only the minimum in place, $60,000 of a $90,000 award would fall outside the policy, and whether other coverage applies is a question for an attorney.

Every driver involved, including the one who was hit, may owe the DMV a report. Under Cal. Veh. Code § 16000(a), each driver must file form SR 1, the Report of Traffic Accident Occurring in California, within 10 days when a crash injured anyone, however slightly, killed anyone, or did more than $1,000 of damage to any one person's property, whoever caused it and even on private property. An insurance agent, broker or legal representative may file it on your behalf. When someone is injured or killed, the crash must also be reported to law enforcement within 24 hours.

The first days after a crash are when evidence is easiest to gather. For a copy of the crash report, go to the agency that responded; when that was the California Highway Patrol, the CHP's website has a crash report request page for the crashes it investigated. See a doctor promptly, keep every bill and record, and write down how the injuries affect work and daily life while the details are fresh.

• On I-80 or I-680, note the direction of travel, the lane and the nearest exit or overpass; 22 of Fairfield's fatal crashes were on those two interstates.
• On an unlit road, photograph what a driver could see from where the crash happened, at the same hour if possible.
• In a work zone, photograph the signs, cones and lane shifts before they move; 5 of the city's fatal crashes were coded in work zones.
• If the vehicle or property involved may belong to a city, county or other California public entity, raise the government claim with an attorney at once, because it has its own deadline of 6 months (Gov. Code § 911.2).

Most lawsuits over Fairfield crashes would be filed in the Solano County Superior Court; depending on the parties and the facts, another court can be the proper one. California generally allows two years to file a personal injury lawsuit (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1), and since most claims settle without one, the deadline is worth marking early, while talks with an insurer are still going. A wrongful death claim generally has two years from the death, also under § 335.1.

Some situations bring different rules. A claim against a California public entity has its own deadline, 6 months for the government claim (Gov. Code § 911.2), with the time to sue after that set separately by state law. A child's two-year clock pauses until 18 (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a)). And an employee hurt while driving for work generally turns to workers' compensation, run by the California Division of Workers' Compensation, which calls for notice to the employer within 30 days and a claim within one year.

Fairfield's example turns on California's pure comparative negligence, and many states use stricter rules. In states with a 50 or 51 percent bar, the driver found 80 percent at fault would recover nothing rather than $20,000. In contributory negligence states such as Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, a person found even slightly at fault can generally be barred from recovering, so the insurer's 10 percent figure alone could defeat the claim.

Who pays first, and how long you have, also vary. California is not a no-fault state, so the at-fault driver's liability coverage answers for the crash. Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey are no-fault states, where the injured person's own coverage pays certain losses first and a suit for pain and suffering generally requires an injury that meets the state's threshold. Tennessee generally gives one year for most injury claims, compared with California's two.

An attorney must evaluate the facts of any crash before anyone can say whether a claim exists. 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, and most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you were hurt in a crash in Fairfield, on I-80 or on a city street, you can request a free case review.

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

• Fairfield, California: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation

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