Fatal car crashes in Reno, NV: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 102 fatal crashes inside Reno, in which 104 people died. The roads with the most were McCarran Blvd (State Route 659) with 9 fatal crashes, S Virginia St with 5 and State Route 659 (street name not recorded) with 5.

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

NHTSA's FARS file covers only public-road crashes in which a death followed within 30 days, and it builds each record from police reports and other state data. For 2023 it credits Reno with 21 crashes and 21 deaths, a one-to-one match showing that each crash took a single life, and it places every one of them in Washoe County. Twenty crash sites are classed as urban, and the other is a trafficway outside the state's road inventory. Skies were clear for 15 crashes and cloudy for 3, while rain fell during 2 and snow during 1.

People outside vehicles dominate Reno's record. FARS groups pedestrians, cyclists and certain other people involved in a crash under the label non-motorist, and 13 of the 21 crashes, about 62 percent, involved one. The first harmful event, which marks the moment injury or damage first occurs, was a pedestrian in 11 crashes and a cyclist in 2. Those 13 equal the non-motorist total, so they are the same crashes. Four crashes opened with two moving vehicles colliding, and the final 4 with a vehicle striking a tree, a traffic sign support or a curb, or rolling over.

Light conditions point the same way. Twelve crashes, about 57 percent, happened in darkness: 9 on roads with lighting and 3 on roads without it. Dusk accounts for 4 more, leaving only 5 in daylight. By clock time, 8 crashes fall between 9 at night and 4:59 in the morning, and 13 between 5 in the morning and 8:59 at night. Because 12 crashes were in the dark but only 8 fall in that overnight window, at least 4 dark crashes happened during evening or early-morning hours.

Sixteen crashes are coded at non-junction locations, 2 inside intersections, and 1 each in an intersection-related area, a driveway-access area and a ramp-related area. Wednesday had the most crashes, 6, then Saturday with 5 and Thursday with 3; Tuesday, Friday and Sunday had 2 each and Monday 1. June and September had 4 apiece, February and October 3, December 2, and March, April, May, July and August 1 each, while January and November had none. With 21 crashes in a year, one or two events can swing any of these tallies.

Arterial roads carried most of the deaths. FARS assigns 13 crashes to other principal arterials, the major routes that move heavy traffic across a city, and 3 to minor arterials, which together make 16 of the 21. Local streets had 2 crashes, and a freeway or expressway, a minor collector and a trafficway outside the state inventory had 1 each. No crash was coded to an interstate.

The summary's road list is limited to the 12 most frequent entries, which together account for 18 crashes; the other 3 happened on roads the list does not name. SR-659 shows up under two codings, with and without the McCarran Boulevard name, and the two are combined below. One entry, Parking Lot Way, is reproduced as coded. A road that carries more people will usually log more crashes, so read these totals as locations of deaths, not as a ranking of risk:

• SR-659, two codings combined: 5 fatal crashes (3 coded SR-659 McCarran Blvd, 2 coded SR-659).
• SR-667: 4.
• N Virginia St, E 2nd St, Ralston St and Lemmon Dr: 1 each.
• E Peckham Ln, Longley Ln and Old Virginia Rd: 1 each.
• US-395 Off Ramp and Parking Lot Way, both as coded: 1 each.

The FARS summary records conditions, not causes, and it contains no information on speed, impairment or traffic volume, so any reason offered for Reno's pattern is a possibility rather than a finding. What the data does show is that pedestrians were the first harmed in 11 crashes and cyclists in 2. People outside vehicles have nothing around them to absorb an impact, so a collision at ordinary city speeds can be fatal. NHTSA's speeding page lists more severe crashes and longer stopping distances among the effects of speed, though Reno's summary carries no speed data.

Darkness is the other recurring condition. Twelve crashes happened in the dark and 4 at dusk, so only 5 occurred in full daylight. Nine of the dark crashes were on lighted roads, which suggests that street lighting, while helpful, does not by itself make people crossing or riding easy to see. NHTSA's pedestrian safety guidance asks drivers to use extra care in conditions that make people hard to see, such as nighttime. The summary tallies light conditions and crash types separately, so it cannot say how many of the 13 non-motorist crashes happened in the dark.

For an injured pedestrian or cyclist, or a family that lost one, these conditions shape the dispute that follows. A driver's insurer might contend that the pedestrian was outside a crosswalk, dressed in dark clothing or stepped into the road suddenly, and under Nevada's modified comparative negligence rule a fault share above 50 percent would defeat the claim. Signal timing, lighting at the exact spot, sight lines and video can push that share down. In the 4 crashes between moving vehicles, 2 angle and 2 head-on, the questions turn instead to right of way and lane position.

Imagine you are crossing a lighted Reno arterial at about 8 at night when a car turning left strikes you. You break your leg and suffer a head injury, the medical bills climb to $80,000, and four months away from work cost you $20,000 in wages. Every fact and figure here is invented to show how the rules operate.

Because Nevada is a fault state, you would claim against the turning driver's liability insurer. The insurer concedes that its driver failed to yield, but says you began crossing after the signal changed and proposes assigning you 30 percent of the fault. If your total damages, including pain and suffering, were valued at $200,000, a 30 percent share would leave $140,000. A share of exactly 50 percent would still leave $100,000, yet at 51 percent Nevada's rule would bar the claim, which is why the signal timing matters so much.

Collection is the next problem. A driver who carries only Nevada's minimum of 25/50/20 has $25,000 available for one injured person, a fraction of either figure. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on a policy in your household may apply even though you were walking, depending on its terms, and health coverage can handle treatment costs in the meantime. Whether a real crash supports a claim, and what it might be worth, can only be judged by an attorney who reviews the actual facts and policies.

Most of Reno's 2023 deaths involved people walking or riding, and most happened in darkness or at dusk, so the steps below emphasize visibility, signals and witnesses. They apply to pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and passengers, and a relative can carry out many of them for someone still in the hospital. Start early, since lights get repaired, debris is swept away and recordings are overwritten within days.

• Call 911, find out which agency will write the crash report and keep the report number.
• Photograph the crossing point, signals, crosswalk markings and street lights, then return at the same hour to show what a driver could see.
• Write down what the injured person was wearing and whether a bicycle had lights or reflectors.
• Ask anyone who saw the crash, including motorists who pulled over afterward, for a name and phone number.
• Ask homeowners and businesses near the scene to save their camera footage before it is recorded over.
• Report the crash to the insurers involved, keep each claim number and find out whether any policy in your household includes uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
• Get medical care promptly, keep every bill and record, and mark the two-year lawsuit deadline on a calendar.

Fault in Nevada is split using modified comparative negligence, with the cutoff known as a 51 percent bar. Someone whose share of blame stays at or below 50 percent can still recover, minus that share; once it passes 50 percent, the claim fails. Ohio, Texas and Minnesota use the same cutoff. In Colorado, Kansas and Utah the cutoff falls at 50 percent, Arizona, California and New York allow recovery whatever the percentage, and contributory negligence in North Carolina and Maryland can turn away a claim for even minor fault.

Nevada is a fault state: whoever caused the crash, through that driver's liability insurer, generally answers for the injuries, and an injured person faces no threshold before claiming pain and suffering. Florida, New York and Kansas run no-fault systems instead, where personal injury protection on a person's own policy pays first. Nevada's required liability minimum is written as 25/50/20, shorthand for $25,000 for each person hurt, a $50,000 ceiling on injury payments for the whole crash and $20,000 for property damage. Minimums can be revised, so the figure that matters is the limit on the at-fault policy as of the Reno crash date.

NRS 11.190(4)(e) sets two years as the general deadline for injury suits in Nevada. Other states set different clocks, including three years in Washington, New York and North Carolina, four in Nebraska and five in Missouri. A wrongful death claim, or one against a city, county or state agency, can come with its own deadline or notice requirement, so check those rules early. Nevada injury cases are generally filed in District Court.

Reno's 2023 record centers on people outside vehicles, with 13 of the 21 fatal crashes involving a non-motorist and 12 happening in darkness, and on SR-659 and SR-667, which together account for 9 crashes. Nevada law then shapes any claim: the at-fault driver's insurer generally pays first, fault is shared under the 51 percent bar, and the usual lawsuit deadline is two years. As for cost, most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, taking an agreed share of any recovery instead of an upfront payment; before signing, ask what that share is and whether costs come out first.

Ask Legal Matters is a lead-generation service, not a law firm. Reno crash victims, and relatives of anyone killed, may describe what happened through a free claim-review request service the company runs; it offers no legal advice of any kind. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Nevada. Whether a claim exists, and how Nevada's fault rule would apply, is something only an attorney can decide after evaluating the facts. If you were injured in a Reno crash, you can request a free claim review.

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