Car Accidents in Phoenix: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System records every fatal crash on public roads. For 2023, crashes coded to Phoenix account for 311 deaths in 302 fatal crashes. Only Los Angeles, with 341, had more, and Los Angeles has well over twice the population. Phoenix's count is also far above Houston on a per-resident basis.

Phoenix's pattern is distinctive. Of the 302 fatal crashes, 117 were intersection-related, the largest number of any American city in the data and a 39 percent share. Angle collisions, where one vehicle strikes the side of another crossing or turning in front of it, accounted for 88 fatal crashes, more than in any other city. That is the signature of a grid of wide, fast, signalized arterials with long distances between crossings, which is what the west side of Phoenix is.

Darkness was a factor in 177 fatal crashes, and 118 involved a pedestrian or cyclist, a 39 percent share. Weekend crashes, 114, were also a larger share than in most cities. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes on the same corridors are many times more numerous.

FARS roadway coding shows where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. Five of the six leading corridors are surface arterials, not freeways.

• North 19th Avenue: 14 fatal crashes, the most of any road in the city, along the light rail and bus corridor through the west-central neighborhoods.
• I-10: 11 fatal crashes across the Papago and Maricopa freeway sections.
• I-17: 10 fatal crashes on the Black Canyon Freeway.
• West Thomas Road: 10 fatal crashes on the east-west arterial.
• North 35th Avenue: 9 fatal crashes.
• North 43rd Avenue: 9 fatal crashes.

An angle collision at a signalized intersection is a fault dispute by nature. Each driver says the other ran the light. The evidence that resolves it, signal timing records from the city, red-light or traffic cameras where they exist, dash cameras, business surveillance and independent witnesses, has to be gathered quickly, and the city's signal data and camera footage are retained for limited periods.

Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule means that even a driver found mostly at fault can recover something, reduced by their share. That cuts both ways: it keeps a disputed-fault claim alive, but it also means the other driver's insurer will push for a high fault percentage rather than an outright denial. A 40 percent fault assignment on a $200,000 claim is $80,000, and the percentage is where the negotiation happens.

Left turns across oncoming traffic, common on Phoenix's wide arterials, are the typical angle crash, and the turning driver is usually found at fault unless the oncoming vehicle was speeding or ran a red. Speed is the usual counter-argument, and the FARS data's high share of night crashes on these roads reflects it.

Suppose you were driving south on 19th Avenue at night when a driver turned left in front of you from the northbound lanes. You struck the side of the turning car and suffered a fractured sternum and a knee injury that later required arthroscopic surgery. The other driver's insurer argued you were traveling 10 miles over the limit and assigned you 25 percent of the fault. Medical bills reached $58,000 and you missed eleven weeks of work.

Under Arizona's pure comparative rule, a 25 percent share reduces your recovery by a quarter but does not bar it, and the turning driver remains primarily at fault for failing to yield. The city's signal timing records and a transit bus camera, obtained by preservation letter in the first weeks, showed the turn was made on a stale yellow with you already in the intersection, and the fault share was negotiated down.

The other driver carried Arizona's minimum $25,000 per person liability limit. Your own underinsured motorist coverage covered the gap above that. The claim was settled at month sixteen, well inside Arizona's two-year deadline. If the signal itself had malfunctioned, a separate notice of claim against the City of Phoenix would have been due within 180 days of the crash. All figures are hypothetical.

Phoenix crashes are often intersection crashes, so the evidence list is weighted toward signals and cameras.

• Get the Phoenix Police Department or Arizona DPS report number and request the report.
• Photograph the intersection, the signal heads, the position of both vehicles and any skid marks before the cars are moved.
• Note every business and transit vehicle with a camera facing the intersection; footage is overwritten within days.
• Get witness names and phone numbers at the scene; angle collisions turn on who had the green.
• Report to your own insurer the same day and confirm your uninsured and underinsured motorist limits in writing.
• Get medical care within a day; Phoenix insurers raise treatment gaps as routinely as anywhere.
• If a signal, road design or missing lighting contributed, treat the 180-day notice of claim deadline against the city or state as the controlling date.

Arizona is a fault state, not no-fault. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery, and your own medical payments coverage, if purchased, pays early bills. Arizona's minimum liability coverage is $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must be offered but can be declined, and whether you have it is the first thing to check after a serious Phoenix crash.

Fault follows pure comparative negligence: recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault with no cutoff. The injury deadline is two years from the crash under A.R.S. § 12-542. Claims against a public entity, including the City of Phoenix, Maricopa County, the Arizona Department of Transportation and Valley Metro, require a formal notice of claim within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01 and a lawsuit within one year, and a missed notice ends the claim against that entity.

Crashes in the surrounding cities, Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale and Tempe, are governed by the same Arizona rules, and Mesa, Glendale and Tempe each appear separately in the FARS top 150 with 68, 46 and 34 deaths respectively. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the Industrial Commission of Arizona with a one-year claim deadline.

A Phoenix intersection claim is won on evidence that disappears in days and valued under a fault rule that rewards contesting the percentage. The questions to answer early are what the cameras and signal records show, what the other driver's limits are, and whether any public entity shares responsibility, because that last question has a 180-day clock. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Arizona, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash in Phoenix or Maricopa County, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

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