Car Accidents in Tucson: 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 Tucson account for 148 deaths in 139 fatal crashes. That places Tucson ninth nationally, ahead of Philadelphia, Detroit and Indianapolis, each of which has far more residents. Relative to population, Tucson sits with Memphis and Albuquerque in the group of mid-sized cities with the highest fatal crash rates in the country.

The pattern is intersections. Seventy-one of 139 fatal crashes were intersection-related, 51 percent, and angle collisions, where one vehicle strikes the side of another, accounted for 35. Head-on collisions, 18, were also unusually prominent. Tucson's arterial grid, with wide multi-lane roads, long signal spacing and high speeds between signals, produces exactly this mix of crossing and turning crashes.

Darkness was a factor in 74 of 139 fatal crashes, 53 percent, a lower share than Phoenix or Houston. Forty-five crashes involved a pedestrian or cyclist, 32 percent. Forty-eight were on a weekend. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes in Pima County, reported through ADOT, are many times more numerous.

FARS roadway coding identifies where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. After I-10, the list is the city's major east-west and north-south arterials.

Speedway, Grant and Broadway are the east-west spine of the city's grid, and Valencia, Golf Links and Ajo Way carry traffic across the south and southeast sides where the newer subdivisions meet the older arterials. What these roads share is design: three or more lanes in each direction, signals a half mile or more apart, and posted speeds of 40 to 45 miles per hour that are routinely exceeded between signals. The fatal crashes on them cluster at the signalized intersections and at the mid-block points where pedestrians cross because the nearest signal is too far to walk to.

• I-10: 10 fatal crashes through the city and its western edge.
• SR-86 (Ajo Way): 5 fatal crashes on the southwest side.
• Valencia Road: 5 fatal crashes on the south side arterial.
• East Speedway Boulevard: 4 fatal crashes.
• Golf Links Road: 4 fatal crashes on the southeast side.
• Grant Road: 4 fatal crashes.

An angle collision at a Tucson intersection is a dispute about who had the signal or the right of way, and in a city where more than half of fatal crashes are at intersections, that dispute is the typical claim. The evidence that resolves it is the city's signal timing data, camera footage from businesses and Sun Tran buses, dash cameras, and independent witnesses, all of which are gone within days if no one asks.

Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule keeps disputed-fault claims alive. A driver found 40 percent at fault for entering on a stale yellow still recovers 60 percent, which is why Arizona insurers argue percentages rather than denying outright. The negotiation is about the number, and the physical evidence is what moves it.

Left turns across oncoming traffic on Speedway, Grant or Broadway are the typical fault pattern, with the turning driver usually responsible unless the oncoming vehicle ran a red or was speeding. Head-on crashes, prominent in Tucson's data, usually involve a wrong-way driver, impairment, or a crossover on a two-way arterial, and fault is rarely disputed in those.

The practical consequence for an injured driver or passenger is that the first week decides the fault evidence. The city's signal timing records can be requested, but the camera footage that shows what the signal was actually displaying at the moment of the crash is held by businesses and transit operators that overwrite it on a schedule of days. An attorney's preservation letter, sent before the footage cycles, is often the single most valuable step in a Tucson intersection claim.

Suppose you were driving east on Speedway Boulevard in the evening and entered an intersection on a green when a driver heading west turned left in front of you. You suffered a fractured sternum, a wrist fracture and a concussion, with $52,000 in medical bills and eight weeks off work. The turning driver's insurer argued you were speeding and assigned you 30 percent of the fault.

Under Arizona's pure comparative rule, 30 percent reduces but does not bar the recovery, and the turning driver's failure to yield remains the primary cause. A nearby business camera, obtained by a preservation letter in the first week, showed you entering the intersection at a normal speed with the light green, and the fault share was negotiated down. The turning driver carried Arizona's minimum $25,000 per person liability limit, which was paid, and your own underinsured motorist coverage covered the balance.

Had the signal been malfunctioning, or had a missing left-turn phase contributed, a separate notice of claim against the City of Tucson would have been required within 180 days of the crash, a deadline that would have passed before your treatment was complete. The claim settled at month fifteen, inside the two-year deadline. All figures are hypothetical.

Tucson's crashes are intersection crashes, so the evidence list is weighted toward signals, cameras and witnesses.

• Get the Tucson Police Department or Pima County Sheriff's Department report number and request the report.
• Photograph the signal heads, the lane markings, the position of both vehicles and any skid marks before the cars are moved.
• Note every business and Sun Tran bus with a camera facing the intersection; footage is overwritten within days.
• Get witness names and phone numbers; 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; chest, wrist and head injuries from side impacts surface over the following days.
• If a signal, road design or missing left-turn phase contributed, treat the 180-day notice of claim deadline against the city, county or ADOT as the controlling date.

Arizona is a fault state. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery, and medical payments coverage on your own policy, 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 and can be declined, and whether you have it is the first thing to check after a serious Tucson 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 Tucson, Pima County, the Arizona Department of Transportation and Sun Tran, require a formal notice of claim within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01 and a lawsuit within one year.

Crashes in Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita and the rest of Pima County follow the same Arizona rules; crashes on the Tohono O'odham Nation or the Pascua Yaqui reservation can involve tribal jurisdiction with different procedures. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the Industrial Commission of Arizona with a one-year claim deadline.

A Tucson claim is usually an intersection claim 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 Tucson or Pima County, you can request a free claim review.

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• 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

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