Fatal car crashes in Spokane, WA: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 97 fatal crashes inside Spokane, in which 102 people died. The roads with the most were US-2 with 18 fatal crashes, I-90 with 5 and State Route 290 with 4.

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

Spokane's worst year in these records was 2021, when 26 fatal crashes killed 27 people. The count dropped to 15 crashes and 15 deaths in 2022, then climbed again, to 19 crashes in 2023 and 20 in 2024, with 20 and 22 deaths. Adding 2020's 17 crashes and 18 deaths gives five-year totals of 97 fatal crashes and 102 deaths in NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the national database of crashes on public roads that killed someone within 30 days. The 2024 numbers come from the Annual Report File, NHTSA's first release for that year, and may change.

Third is Spokane's place among the 116 Washington cities and towns with fatal crashes in these records. Seattle had 190 deaths and Tacoma 148, while Everett (72) and Vancouver (71) came after Spokane's 102. Spokane County as a whole recorded 256 fatal crashes and 265 deaths, and 38 percent of each were inside Spokane itself: 97 of the crashes and 102 of the deaths.

One road dominates Spokane's list. US-2 had 18 fatal crashes and 21 deaths from 2020 through 2024, the latest in 2024. That is 19 percent of the city's fatal crashes on one road, and more than three times the 5 crashes on I-90, the second road, where 6 people died. State Route 290 had 4 crashes and 5 deaths through 2023, and N Nevada St had 4 crashes and 4 deaths, the latest in 2022.

E Sprague Ave and State Route 291 had 3 fatal crashes each, and 29th Ave, E Empire Ave, E Upriver Dr and Maple St had 2 each. All ten roads together account for 45 of the 97 crashes and 50 of the 102 deaths, and US-2 alone holds 18 of those 45 crashes. The remaining 52 crashes happened on roads outside the table. Where a road ranks reflects where crashes were recorded, not their causes or who was at fault.

Most of Spokane's fatal crashes happened after dark: FARS codes 56 of the 97 that way, 42 on roads with street lighting, 10 on unlit roads and 4 with the lighting unknown. Thirty-eight happened in daylight, 2 at dusk and 1 at dawn. The evening was the deadliest stretch, with 39 crashes between 6 p.m. and midnight, and 19 more came between midnight and 6 a.m. Friday (23) and Tuesday (22) had far more fatal crashes than any other day; Sunday had the fewest, 8.

Intersections and pedestrians define the pattern. Fifty-four crashes, 56 percent, happened at an intersection or on an approach to one, 36 were away from any junction and 6 were tied to a driveway. A pedestrian was the first thing struck in 38 crashes, and a fixed object such as a curb, tree or sign support came first in 19. FARS's manner-of-collision field codes 30 crashes as collisions with another vehicle in transport, meaning one moving or stopped in the roadway: 24 angle crashes, where one vehicle strikes the side of another, 3 head-on, 1 rear-end, 1 same-direction sideswipe and 1 coded as other.

Clear weather was the norm: 77 crashes happened in clear conditions, 13 under clouds, 4 in rain, 2 in severe crosswinds and 1 in fog, smog or smoke. Fifty-nine crashes involved a single vehicle, a group that includes a vehicle striking a pedestrian. For a claim, the mix of darkness and pedestrians matters, because whether the driver should have seen the person often decides fault, and lighting and camera evidence near the scene can disappear within days.

Pedestrians account for a large share of Spokane's deaths. Of the 102 people killed, 39 were pedestrians, 38 percent, nearly as many as the 42 drivers killed. Eighteen passengers died, and three other people outside a vehicle were killed: a bicyclist, another pedalcyclist and a person on a motorized personal conveyance, as FARS calls it. Twenty-one of the people killed were on a motorcycle or moped. By crash, 43 of the 97 involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other person outside a vehicle, 44 percent.

Each group faces different claim questions. A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a car claims against the driver's liability insurance, and the case often turns on where the person was crossing, the signal and the lighting. Drivers and passengers hurt by another driver claim against that driver's policy, and motorcycle claims often turn on speed and visibility. When a crash killed someone, a wrongful death claim, brought on behalf of the survivors, may be possible: RCW 4.20.010 creates it, and its three-year deadline comes from RCW 4.16.080(2).

Picture a pedestrian struck by a turning driver while crossing at a Spokane intersection after dark; every figure in this example is hypothetical and simplified. He runs up $65,000 in medical bills and loses $15,000 in wages, and a jury values his pain and suffering at $20,000, a total of $100,000. The driver's insurer argues he started across against the signal and should carry 60 percent of the fault.

Washington applies pure comparative negligence, so his recovery shrinks with his share of fault but is not cut off when that share passes half. At 60 percent, $100,000 becomes $40,000. In a state with a 51 percent bar, the same finding would leave him with nothing. Fault still matters in Washington, since each point of fault assigned to him costs $1,000 in this example, so signal timing, lighting and witness evidence remain worth gathering.

The driver's insurance limits set a practical ceiling. Under Washington's at-fault system, his claim goes first to that driver's liability policy, and the state minimum, 25/50/10, provides $25,000 for each injured person, $50,000 for all bodily injuries in one crash and $10,000 for property. If the driver had only that minimum, $15,000 of his $40,000 recovery would be left uncovered by the policy. His own underinsured motorist coverage, if he has it, or a second responsible party could make up some of the difference, depending on the policies and the facts.

Washington's reporting rule depends on whether an officer reports the crash. Unless a law enforcement officer investigates and makes the report, each driver in a collision that injures or kills anyone, or damages any one person's property by $1,000 or more, must make a written report within four days (RCW 46.52.030; WAC 446-85-010). The Washington State Patrol takes the Motor Vehicle Collision Report online or on paper. If no one entitled to your information can receive it and no officer is present, report the collision forthwith, meaning right away, to the nearest police office (RCW 46.52.020).

• Call 911 if anyone is injured; if no officer comes and no one can receive your information, RCW 46.52.020 calls for reporting the collision to the nearest police office right away.
• Have someone photograph the crossing, street lights, signals and anything that blocked the view, at the same hour of night; 39 of the 102 people killed in Spokane were pedestrians.
• Ask stores and homes along the street for camera recordings quickly, before they are recorded over.
• Get checked by a doctor the day of the crash and keep the records; a gap before treatment is often used to downplay an injury.
• If the four-day rule above applies and no officer reported the crash, file the Motor Vehicle Collision Report; copies of reports come through the Washington State Patrol's WRECR system.

For a crash inside Spokane, a lawsuit would ordinarily be filed in the Spokane County Superior Court. Some cases go to another county or to federal court instead, and an attorney can work out the right one. Washington's statute of limitations for personal injury, RCW 4.16.080, generally allows three years from the date of injury. Even with that much time, most claims are settled with an insurer rather than tried, and a case filed after the three years have run out will generally be dismissed.

Three situations bring different timing. When the injured person is a child, the clock generally pauses until the child turns 18. A claim against a city, county or other local government begins with a tort claim form, a written injury claim filed with that government, followed by a 60-day wait before suit, and the deadline is paused for those 60 days (RCW 4.96.020). A crash at work calls for telling the employer right away (“forthwith” under RCW 51.28.010), and the workers' compensation claim, handled by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, must be filed within one year.

Washington's pure comparative rule is why the pedestrian in the Spokane example still recovers $40,000 although he was found 60 percent at fault. Many states draw a harder line. Where a 51 percent bar applies, a 60 percent share means no recovery at all. In Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, which keep contributory negligence, even a small share of fault can bar an injured person completely. The same facts could therefore produce $40,000 in Washington and nothing in those states.

Insurance works differently from state to state as well. Washington follows the at-fault system, so the liability insurer of the driver who caused the crash is the main payer. In Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, all no-fault states, an injured person's own policy generally pays medical bills first, whatever the cause. The time to sue varies too: Tennessee gives one year for most injury claims, a third of the three years Washington generally allows.

Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, meaning their fee is a percentage of any recovery; ask how costs are handled before signing. 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 Washington, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say whether a claim exists. If you were hurt in a crash in Spokane, you can request a free case review.

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• What should you do after a car accident?

More on this type of claim: Car accidents: evidence, deadlines and when to ask an attorney.

• Spokane, Washington: 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.