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

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 75 fatal crashes inside Rialto, in which 85 people died. The roads with the most were Riverside Ave with 24 fatal crashes, State Route 210 with 14 and Valley Blvd with 3.

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

For the five years from 2020 through 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) places 75 fatal crashes in Rialto, and those crashes took 85 lives. FARS is NHTSA's national record of fatal traffic crashes, drawn from police crash reports and other state records. The Final Files are its source for 2020 to 2023, while 2024 comes from the Annual Report File, the agency's first release of that year, so the most recent figures may be revised.

Rialto's yearly toll stayed in a narrow band. Fatal crashes numbered 15 in 2020, 14 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 16 in 2023 and 18 in 2024, the most in any year. Deaths ran 15, 19, 16, 16 and 19. The two counts drift apart because some crashes killed more than one person: 2021's 14 crashes killed 19 people and 2022's 12 killed 16, which together account for 9 of the 10 deaths beyond the crash count.

Of San Bernardino County's 1,988 traffic deaths in those years, 85 were in Rialto, as were 75 of its 1,803 fatal crashes, 4 percent of each, and California as a whole lost 21,077 people in 19,496 fatal crashes. Among the California places in our guides, Rialto's 85 deaths are the 24th-highest total; the state's highest tolls were in Los Angeles (1,637), San Diego (549), Fresno (343), San Jose (326) and Sacramento (314).

Riverside Ave far outpaces every other road in Rialto's table. From 2020 through 2024 it had 24 fatal crashes, 32 percent of the city's total, and those crashes killed 29 people, 34 percent of all deaths, the latest in 2024. State Route 210 is second with 14 crashes and 16 deaths, also with one in 2024. Between them the two roads hold 38 of the 75 fatal crashes and 45 of the 85 deaths, just over half of each.

Far behind, five roads tie for third with 3 fatal crashes each. On Valley Blvd those crashes killed 5 people, on Cedar Ave 4 and on Foothill Blvd 3, all three with one in 2024. I-10 and Merrill Ave had 3 crashes and 3 deaths each, the latest in 2023 and 2021 respectively. Baseline Rd, Locust Ave and Sycamore Ave had 2 each, all with a fatal crash in 2024, so eight of the ten roads in the table had one that year.

Four rows have more deaths than crashes: Riverside Ave by 5, State Route 210 and Valley Blvd by 2 each, and Cedar Ave by 1, which adds up to all 10 deaths beyond Rialto's crash count. Every crash that killed more than one person was on one of those four roads. None of this assigns blame for any crash, and a count is not a risk rate, since FARS does not measure traffic. A claim depends on the evidence from the crash itself: the officer's report, the vehicles, witnesses and video from nearby cameras, gathered while it still exists.

Darkness is the clearest pattern in Rialto's record. Fifty-five of the 75 fatal crashes, 73 percent, happened after dark: 42 in darkness with lighting, 11 in darkness without lighting and 2 with the lighting unknown. Only 19 happened in daylight and 1 at dusk. The clock tells the same story: 36 crashes came between 6 p.m. and midnight and 19 between midnight and 6 a.m., against 14 from noon to 6 p.m. and 5 from 6 a.m. to noon; the hour was unknown for 1.

Friday and Sunday tied for the most fatal crashes, 14 each, and Saturday had 12, so the three days from Friday through Sunday account for 40 of the 75, 53 percent. Wednesday had just 4. The weather was clear for 63 crashes, cloudy for 6 and rainy for 4, and it was not reported for 2. FARS coded every one of the 75 as urban, and 1 happened in a construction work zone.

In 46 crashes, the event that first caused injury or damage (the first harmful event) was something other than a collision with another vehicle in transport, which FARS defines as moving or stopped in the roadway. A pedestrian was struck first in 26, a curb in 5, and a cyclist, a utility pole or light support, or a rollover accounted for 2 each. Among the 29 collisions with another vehicle in transport, 12 were angle crashes, 10 rear-end, 5 head-on and 1 a same-direction sideswipe, with 1 not reported. By location, 44 crashes were non-junction, not at any junction, 13 were in an intersection and 12 were intersection-related.

Drivers were 40 of the 85 people killed, 47 percent, and passengers 13, or 15 percent. Pedestrians were the second-largest group, 28 deaths, or 33 percent, and 2 bicyclists also died. Two more people were inside a vehicle that was not in transport, such as a parked car. Thirty of the 75 crashes, 40 percent, involved someone who was not in a vehicle, a pedestrian, a cyclist or another non-motorist, which makes people outside vehicles central to Rialto's record.

Seven of those killed, 8 percent, were on a motorcycle or moped; FARS includes them with the drivers and passengers. Thirty-eight crashes involved one vehicle, 28 involved two and 9 involved three or more. When a pedestrian is struck at night, the questions in a claim are usually where the person was crossing, how visible the person was and whether the driver could have stopped in time, and the answers depend on evidence collected soon after the crash.

Everything in this example is hypothetical, including every figure. Suppose a man walking home across a wide Rialto street at 10 p.m., between intersections and in dark clothing, is hit by a driver going 15 mph over the limit. His medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering are valued at $200,000. The driver's insurer argues that the man caused most of the crash by crossing away from a crosswalk and puts his share of the fault at 70 percent.

California's pure comparative negligence rule means a share of fault above 50 percent does not wipe out the claim; the award shrinks by that share instead. At 70 percent, $200,000 becomes $60,000. If evidence such as speed data from the car, a witness and the lighting at the spot moved his share down to 50 percent, the figure would be $100,000. Under a rule that bars anyone more than half at fault, the man at 70 percent would generally recover nothing.

Collection is the next question. California is an at-fault state, so the claim runs against the driver's liability insurance, and the required minimum is written 30/60/15: $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash for all injuries combined, and $15,000 for property damage. A driver carrying only the minimum would have a policy paying at most $30,000 toward the $60,000. Whether any other coverage could reach the difference is something an attorney would check.

Two reports can be required after a Rialto crash. If anyone was hurt or killed, law enforcement must be told within 24 hours. Separately, Cal. Veh. Code § 16000(a) gives each driver 10 days to file form SR 1, the Report of Traffic Accident Occurring in California, with the DMV whenever someone was injured, even slightly, or killed, or property damage to any one person topped $1,000. That duty does not depend on fault or on whether the crash was on a street, a highway or private property, and an insurance agent, broker or legal representative can file the form for a driver.

• Call 911 when anyone is hurt, and before leaving, write down which agency responded and the report number.
• If the California Highway Patrol investigated, its crash report can be requested through the CHP's online request page; for any other agency, ask the one that responded.
• At night, photograph the street lighting, the crosswalks and where each vehicle and person came to rest, if it is safe to do so.
• Get the names and phone numbers of witnesses; in a pedestrian crash they may be the only neutral account.
• Keep every medical record and bill, and a note of each day of missed work.
• If the crash happened on the job, tell your employer within 30 days; a workers' compensation claim generally must be filed within one year, through the California Division of Workers' Compensation.

Rialto is in San Bernardino County, so a crash lawsuit would generally go to the San Bernardino County Superior Court; whether a different court is proper depends on the facts, and an attorney makes that call. California's general limit for an injury lawsuit is two years from the injury (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1). When someone died, the family's wrongful death claim generally has two years from the date of death, under the same section.

Claims against government bodies follow their own rules. A claim against a California public entity, for example over a city or county vehicle, requires a government claim within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2), and the time to sue the entity after that is set separately by state law. For an injured minor, the two-year period generally pauses until age 18 (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a)). An attorney can confirm which dates apply.

California's rule is the reason the pedestrian in the example recovers anything. In the contributory negligence states, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia among them, an injured person found even slightly at fault can generally be barred from recovering, and in many other states a person found more than half at fault recovers nothing. The same 70 percent share that leaves $60,000 in California would generally leave nothing in those states.

Insurance rules shift who pays first. No-fault states, a group that includes Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, route certain losses through personal injury protection coverage regardless of fault, each under its own rules. In California, fault comes first, because the claim is made against the liability coverage of the driver who caused the crash. Deadlines move too. A Tennessee claim generally must be brought within one year, while California allows two.

Whether anyone hurt in a Rialto crash has a claim, and how fault would be divided, are questions only a review of the evidence can answer. 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 California, and most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you were hurt in a crash in Rialto, 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.

• Rialto, 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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