Fatal car crashes in Grand Rapids, MI: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 73 fatal crashes inside Grand Rapids, in which 75 people died. The roads with the most were US-131 with 11 fatal crashes, Division Ave with 6 and 28th St SE (State Route 11) with 5.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids, MI injury guide.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration counts every fatal crash on the country's public roads in its Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). For Grand Rapids, the records for 2020 through 2024 show 73 fatal crashes and 75 deaths. Four of those years, 2020 to 2023, come from NHTSA's Final Files; the fifth, 2024, comes from its Annual Report File, NHTSA's first release for that year, so the 2024 count may still be revised.

The yearly totals were 14 fatal crashes in 2020, 15 in 2021, 11 in 2022, 18 in 2023 and 15 in 2024, with 14, 15, 12, 19 and 15 deaths. The worst year was 2023 and the lightest 2022. Deaths exceeded crashes only in 2022 and 2023, by one each, so 71 of the 73 crashes killed one person, and one crash in each of those two years killed two.

Kent County recorded 287 fatal crashes and 303 deaths in the same five years, so Grand Rapids accounts for 25 percent of each. Michigan's total was 5,173 fatal crashes and 5,541 deaths. Among Michigan cities in these records, only Detroit, with 699 deaths, and Flint, with 132, recorded more than the 75 in Grand Rapids; Lansing, with 61, and Warren, with 54, came next.

US-131 leads the table with 11 fatal crashes and 11 deaths inside Grand Rapids, 15 percent of the city's fatal crashes, though its most recent fatal crash in these records was in 2023. Division Ave is second with 6 crashes and 6 deaths, the latest in 2024. 28th St SE (State Route 11) is third with 5 fatal crashes, and 28th St (State Route 11) fourth with 4, both with a crash in 2024. Eastern Ave had 3, the latest in 2022.

Five rows had 2 fatal crashes each: Fulton St, where the 2 crashes killed 3 people, the latest in 2023; Beltline Ave (State Route 37 / State Route 44), Beltline Ave NE (State Route 44) and Leonard St, each with a crash in 2024; and Ramp (I-196), the latest in 2023. Six of the ten rows had a fatal crash in 2024. Together the rows hold 39 of the city's 73 fatal crashes, 53 percent, and 40 of its 75 deaths.

Fulton St is the only row with more deaths than crashes, so one of the two crashes that killed two people was there and the other was on a road outside the table. Counts like these show where fatal crashes happened, not how risky a road is per mile, since FARS does not measure traffic, and not who caused any crash. In a claim, that comes from the officer's report, the vehicles, witnesses and any video.

Grand Rapids' fatal crashes cluster at night, and the overnight hours count almost as much as the evening. There were 25 fatal crashes between 6 p.m. and midnight and 24 between midnight and 6 a.m., 49 in all, or 67 percent; noon to 6 p.m. had 13 and 6 a.m. to noon 11. Sunday had the most crashes of any day, 17, followed by Friday with 14, Thursday with 12 and Wednesday with 11; Monday and Saturday had 7 each and Tuesday 5.

Forty-three crashes, 59 percent, happened after dark, 33 of them in darkness with lighting and 10 in darkness without it; 29 happened in daylight and 1 at dusk. The weather was clear for 48 crashes and cloudy for 14, with rain in 8, snow in 2 and 1 not reported. All 73 were coded as urban, and none happened in a work zone. Forty-two crashes involved a single vehicle, 24 involved two and 7 involved three or more.

Forty-two crashes did not begin with a collision between vehicles in transport, the FARS term for vehicles moving or stopped in the roadway; their first harmful event, the first event causing injury or damage, was something else. A pedestrian was struck first in 20 of them, a tree in 5 and a cyclist in 4. Among the 31 collisions between vehicles, 20 were angle crashes, 6 head-on, 3 rear-end and 1 a same-direction sideswipe, with 1 reported as unknown.

Thirty-seven crashes fell in FARS's non-junction category, so none of them was at an intersection, a driveway, a ramp or any other junction; 16 were in an intersection and 10 were intersection-related. Four were related to an entrance or exit ramp and 4 to a driveway, and of the last 2, 1 was coded through roadway and 1 other location within an interchange area. The 20 angle collisions usually raise the question of who had the right of way.

Of the 75 people killed, 40 were drivers, 53 percent, and 7 were passengers. Pedestrians were the second-largest group, 24 deaths, or 32 percent, and 4 bicyclists died. Looked at crash by crash, 28 of the 73, or 38 percent, involved a person on foot, on a bicycle or otherwise outside a vehicle. Sixteen of the dead, 21 percent, were on a motorcycle or moped, and FARS counts them with the drivers and passengers.

For a pedestrian or a family that lost one, the questions after a crash are practical: where the person was crossing, whether the signal or the lighting favored the driver or the walker, and whether the driver was paying attention. A rider's claim raises related questions of visibility and right of way, and every answer depends on evidence gathered soon after the crash.

This example is hypothetical; everything in it is invented for illustration. Suppose a woman crossing a Grand Rapids street at 11 p.m. is hit by a car. She needs two surgeries and months of therapy, and she cannot work for half a year. In Michigan's no-fault system, personal injury protection (PIP) generally pays medical bills and part of lost wages first, whoever caused the crash; whether it pays for a pedestrian, and under which policy, depends on the policies involved.

Her claim against the driver covers what PIP does not: suppose $30,000 of wage loss beyond PIP, plus pain and suffering, which is generally available when the injury meets the threshold set by Michigan law. Suppose it does, and pain and suffering is valued at $150,000. The driver's insurer says she crossed against the signal and puts her at 40 percent fault. Under Michigan's modified comparative negligence rule (51% bar), both parts shrink by 40 percent, leaving $90,000 for pain and suffering and $18,000 of the wage loss.

Above 50 percent the result changes shape. If a jury found her 60 percent at fault, the pain-and-suffering claim would end, because in Michigan the bar applies to non-economic damages; her economic damages would be reduced by her share instead of barred (MCL 600.2959), leaving $12,000 of the $30,000. The driver's liability limits matter as well: Michigan's required minimum, written 50/100/10, is $50,000 for one person's injuries, $100,000 for all injuries in a crash and $10,000 for property damage.

In Michigan, reporting a crash to the police is the driver's duty, not a choice. MCL 257.622 covers any crash in which someone is hurt or killed, or property damage appears to total $1,000 or more, and it tells the driver to report immediately, either to the nearest or most convenient police station or to a police officer. Drivers in Michigan do not fill out a crash form themselves. The investigating officer writes the report, which is one reason to write down that officer's name and the report number at the scene.

• Call 911 if anyone is hurt, and note which agency responded.
• If you were on foot, photograph the crossing, the signals and the street lights, and keep your clothing and shoes as they were.
• Get the driver's name, plate number, insurer and policy number, and the names and numbers of witnesses.
• See a doctor within a day or two even if you feel fine, and keep every record and bill.
• Contact your own auto insurer promptly about PIP benefits, or ask which policy applies if you have none.
• Hurt while working? Michigan requires notice to the employer within 90 days (MCL 418.381), and a workers' compensation claim generally must reach the Michigan Workers' Disability Compensation Agency within two years.

A lawsuit over a Grand Rapids crash would generally be filed in the Kent County Circuit Court; whether another court is proper depends on the facts, a question for an attorney. Michigan generally allows three years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (MCL 600.5805(2)). The three years are a limit for filing in court, not for finishing talks with an insurer.

Three years can pass quickly when surgeries, therapy and PIP benefits take months to sort out, as they would for the pedestrian in the example. Some situations change the period, and a wrongful death claim may follow its own timetable, so an attorney should confirm the exact date early. Starting sooner also helps with evidence: video, the vehicles and witnesses' memories are easiest to secure in the first weeks.

Three Michigan rules shaped the example. Michigan is a no-fault state, as are Florida, New York and New Jersey, so early medical and wage losses go to PIP. Its modified comparative negligence rule (51% bar) lets an injured person recover as long as that person was not more than 50 percent at fault, with the award reduced by the person's share. And past 50 percent, it bars non-economic damages such as pain and suffering while only reducing economic damages (MCL 600.2959).

Elsewhere the same pedestrian could fare very differently. Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia use contributory negligence, which can generally bar any recovery by a person found even slightly at fault, so a 40 percent share there would usually end the claim. In most at-fault states, the first claim goes to the driver's liability insurer rather than to PIP. Tennessee allows one year for most injury claims, a third of Michigan's three years.

Every one of those rules depends on facts that an attorney has to evaluate. 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 Michigan, and most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you or a family member was hurt in a crash in Grand Rapids, you can request a free case review.

• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Flint?
• What do federal records show about fatal car crashes in Detroit?
• 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.

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

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.