Fatal car crashes in Goodyear, AZ: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 59 fatal crashes inside Goodyear, in which 65 people died. The roads with the most were I-10 with 8 fatal crashes, Estrella Pkwy with 5 and Litchfield Rd with 4.

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

FARS, NHTSA's national file of deadly crashes, admits a public-road crash once a death follows inside 30 days. Goodyear's 2023 entry lists 17 such crashes and 20 deaths, all in Maricopa County. With deaths exceeding crashes by 3, the file must include at least one crash with multiple deaths; the summary does not say how the extra deaths were distributed. Fifteen crash sites are coded urban, 1 rural and 1 as a trafficway outside the state inventory, and the weather was clear for 16 crashes and cloudy for 1.

Seven crashes began with two moving vehicles colliding: 5 angle crashes, in which vehicles meet at an angle, often front to side as in a T-bone crash, plus 1 head-on and 1 rear-end. The remaining 10 started some other way. FARS lists what it calls the first harmful event, the initial source of injury or damage, as a rollover in 3 crashes, a utility pole or light support in 2 and a pedestrian in 2, with a cyclist, a tree and a curb each listed once.

Three crashes involved a non-motorist, a FARS category covering pedestrians, cyclists and some others, and they match exactly the 2 crashes in which a pedestrian was hit first and the 1 in which a cyclist was. Nine crashes happened in daylight and 8 in darkness, 5 of the dark ones on lighted roads and 3 on unlit ones; none is coded at dawn or dusk. Six crashes are timed from 9:00 p.m. through 4:59 a.m. and 11 at other hours, so at least 2 of the 8 dark crashes happened outside that overnight block.

Junction coding sets 9 crashes away from any junction, 5 inside intersections, 2 in intersection-related areas and 1 in a ramp-coded location. The week peaks on Saturday, with 6 crashes, followed by Friday with 4, Tuesday with 3 and Wednesday with 2, while Monday and Sunday had 1 each and Thursday none. January, February and December had 3 each, April and May 2, and March, July, September and November 1 apiece, with no fatal crash in June, August or October.

FARS classifies the roads in 7 crashes as minor arterials, 4 as major collectors, 3 as interstates, 2 as other freeways and expressways and 1 as a trafficway outside the state inventory. Minor arterials, one step below principal arterials in the federal road hierarchy, carried the largest share, about 41 percent. Interstates and other freeways together account for 5 crashes, and major collectors, the roads that funnel neighborhood traffic toward arterials, for 4.

The road list holds the 12 most frequent entries, covering 15 crashes; the other 2 happened on roads the list leaves out. Only I-10 and SR-303 appear more than once. Two entries, Falcon Dr C and Cotton Ln E, carry unusual suffixes and are reproduced as coded. A road's crash count rises with the traffic it carries, so these numbers pin down where people died without measuring how hazardous any road is:

• I-10: 3 fatal crashes.
• SR-303: 2.
• Estrella Pkwy, Goodyear Blvd, Indian School Rd and Lower Buckeye Rd: 1 each.
• MU-Bullard Ave, CR-Citrus Rd, 167th Ave and Rainbow Valley Rd: 1 each.
• Falcon Dr C and Cotton Ln E, both as coded: 1 each.

The summary records how each crash started, not who caused it, and it omits speed, impairment and traffic counts, so explanations for Goodyear's pattern are hypotheses. Angle crashes commonly happen when a driver turns or crosses in front of oncoming traffic, misjudges a gap or enters an intersection against a signal, and 5 of Goodyear's 7 crashes between moving vehicles took that form. With 5 crashes coded inside intersections and 2 more in intersection-related areas, right of way is likely to be a central question in many claims.

Ten crashes did not begin with two moving vehicles, and 7 of those started with a rollover or with a vehicle striking a pole, a tree or a curb. Crashes that open this way often follow a loss of control, and NHTSA's speeding page names a greater potential for losing control among the hazards of speed; fatigue, distraction and impairment are other possible contributors. The data does not link days of the week to crash types, and 17 crashes are too few to show a lasting trend.

For an injured driver or passenger, the crash type points to the evidence that matters. In an angle crash, signal phases, intersection video, witness accounts and the location of damage on each vehicle help establish who had the right of way. Fault in Arizona is rarely all or nothing: an insurer may admit its driver turned in front of you yet claim you were speeding, and whatever percentage it secures comes off your award. A passenger hurt in a rollover is usually not at fault and may claim against the driver's liability coverage.

Picture yourself driving through a Goodyear intersection one Saturday evening when a driver turning left cuts across your path and strikes your passenger side. You break your collarbone and two ribs and need surgery on your shoulder. Your medical bills reach $50,000, and you lose $8,000 in wages over six weeks. None of this happened: the crash and its figures are invented to illustrate how Arizona's rules operate.

Because fault decides who pays in Arizona, your claim would go to the turning driver's liability insurer. That insurer argues that your light had turned red before you entered the intersection and proposes splitting fault equally. If your damages, pain and suffering included, total $100,000, an even split would leave you $50,000. If video showed your light was still yellow, your share could fall sharply, perhaps to zero, lifting your recovery toward the full $100,000; under Arizona's pure comparative rule, even a share above 50 percent would only reduce the award.

Policy limits then decide what is collectible. A turning driver insured at Arizona's 25/50/15 minimum brings at most $25,000 for your injuries, and $50,000 for everyone hurt in the crash combined, so even a strong claim could outrun it. Underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy may cover part of the shortfall, and any medical payments coverage on your policy can cover some early treatment costs. An attorney would need to review the actual facts and policies before anyone could say what a claim is worth.

With angle collisions and intersection locations so prominent in Goodyear's 2023 record, the steps below focus on proving who had the right of way, along with the insurance details that decide what can be collected. Drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians can follow them, and a relative can take many on while the injured person recovers. Move quickly, because intersection video and vehicle data may be kept only briefly.

• Dial 911, and before leaving the scene ask which police agency will prepare the report and what its number is.
• Photograph the intersection, the signals facing each direction, the lane markings and where each vehicle came to rest.
• Write down which way each vehicle was traveling, the signal color you saw and anything the other driver said.
• Ask witnesses for contact details, and ask nearby businesses to preserve camera footage right away.
• Exchange insurance information and ask your own insurer about underinsured motorist and medical payments coverage.
• Get medical treatment promptly and keep every bill and record, including those for any passengers.
• Note the two-year lawsuit deadline, and the 180-day notice deadline if a city signal, road defect or government vehicle may be involved.

Arizona's general deadline for injury lawsuits is two years, set by A.R.S. § 12-542. Families bringing a wrongful death claim also get two years, counted from the date of death (A.R.S. § 12-542(2)). When the claim is against a public entity, such as a city responsible for a malfunctioning signal, the claimant must serve a notice of claim within 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01(A)). Other states set different clocks: five years in Missouri, four in Nebraska, three in New York and two in Kansas. Superior Court is where Arizona injury suits are generally heard.

Under Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule, an injured person's fault shaves a matching percentage off the award but never takes it to zero. California, Missouri, New York and Washington handle shared fault the same way. Under modified comparative negligence, recovery stops at a set point: when fault reaches 50 percent in Colorado, Kansas and Utah, and when it passes 50 percent in Nevada, Ohio and Minnesota. Maryland and North Carolina retain contributory negligence, a harsher rule in which a sliver of fault can sink the claim.

Payment in Arizona follows fault: the liability insurer of the driver responsible generally covers the injuries, and an injured person need not cross any injury threshold to claim pain and suffering. No-fault states such as New York, Kansas and Florida work differently, starting with personal injury protection on the injured person's own policy. Arizona's 25/50/15 minimum caps a bare-bones policy at $25,000 for each person hurt, $50,000 for every injury claim from the crash put together and $15,000 for property. Because the state can change these minimums, the limits written into the at-fault policy at the time of the Goodyear crash are what count.

Goodyear's 2023 crashes cluster around angle collisions, intersections and Fridays and Saturdays, with I-10 and SR-303 the only roads named more than once. Arizona law then frames any claim: the at-fault driver's insurer pays first, shared fault reduces but does not bar recovery, most suits carry a two-year deadline, and claims against public entities require notice within 180 days. Fee arrangements vary, but most personal injury attorneys work on contingency; before you sign, ask about the percentage and whether costs come out before or after it.

Ask Legal Matters is a lead-generation service, not a law firm. Goodyear residents hurt in crashes, and families of people killed, can turn to its free claim-review request service; the service does not give legal advice, and it cannot promise any outcome. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Arizona. Before anyone can say a Goodyear claim exists, an attorney has to evaluate the facts. Whether the crash that hurt you or your family happened on I-10, SR-303 or a neighborhood street in Goodyear, you can request a free claim review.

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