By Gordana “Gordi” Mikalacki, founding attorney, Elmm Law Group · Last updated: October 15, 2026
The City of Phoenix ranks 75th Ave and Indian School Rd as its most dangerous intersection, and MAG’s newer regional data ranks 67th Ave and McDowell Rd #1. Most car accidents in Phoenix happen in West Phoenix, along arterials like Indian School Rd, McDowell Rd and Thomas Rd between roughly 27th Ave and 99th Ave. MAG’s 2018 to 2022 data shows 99th Ave and Lower Buckeye Rd had the most crashes (429), while 67th Ave and McDowell Rd ranks as the most dangerous once severity is factored in.
Sources: MAG “Top 100 Intersections Ranked by Crash Risk,” 2018–2022 crash data (latest ranking published by MAG as of this update); City of Phoenix Road Safety Action Plan and 2025 Annual Report; ADOT 2025 Crash Facts dashboard for citywide figures.
MAG doesn’t rank by raw crash count. Its Intersection Safety Score weights crash severity 50%, crash frequency 25%, and crash type 25%. That’s why 67th Ave and McDowell Rd (229 crashes) rank #1, while 99th Ave and Lower Buckeye Rd, with nearly twice as many crashes (429), sit at #10. Cave Creek Rd and Sweetwater Ave makes the top 10 with just 46 crashes, because the crashes that do happen there are unusually severe.
Source: ADOT Crash Facts dashboard, 2025, City = Phoenix (data as of June 17, 2026). Dashboard figures are updated as late reports arrive and may differ slightly from ADOT’s printed totals.
Ranked by MAG’s weighted crash-risk score (2018 to 2022). “Crashes” is the five-year total; the bar shows MAG’s crash-severity score (higher means more serious injuries per crash).
Nine of MAG’s top 10 are entirely inside the City of Phoenix, and #2 (51st Ave and Camelback Rd) sits on the Phoenix and Glendale line. Most are in West Phoenix, along 51st, 67th, 83rd and 99th Avenues.
The same MAG list, sorted by total crashes instead of risk score. This view answers “where do the most accidents happen.”
Seven of the ten are in Phoenix, and all seven are at or west of 27th Ave. The others are in Tempe (Baseline Rd at I-10), Avondale (99th Ave and McDowell Rd) and Surprise (Bell Rd and Litchfield Rd).
The City of Phoenix ranks its intersections separately in its Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan, adopted by the City Council in September 2022. It uses MAG’s scoring method but only Phoenix intersections and 2015 to 2019 crash data, so the order differs from MAG’s newer regional list above.
Source: City of Phoenix, Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan, Table 3: High Crash Risk Intersections (Intersection Safety Score). MAG ranks from the MAG Top 100, 2018–2022.
Four intersections are in the top 10 of both lists: 67th Ave and McDowell Rd, 67th Ave and Indian School Rd, 27th Ave and Camelback Rd, and 99th Ave and Lower Buckeye Rd. Three of the City’s top 10, including its top two, are on Indian School Rd. All ten City intersections also appear in MAG’s newer Top 100.
The City’s 2025 Road Safety Action Plan Annual Report, released October 8, 2026, covers crashes in Phoenix where someone was killed or seriously injured.
Source: City of Phoenix, 2025 RSAP Annual Report (Oct. 8, 2026). Preliminary 2025 fatal crash count is from the Phoenix Police Vehicular Crime Unit and may change. The City counts fatal crashes; ADOT’s 238 figure above counts people killed. Interactive map: phoenix.gov Road Safety Action Plan.
Counts include intersections MAG lists as Phoenix or shared with a neighboring city. Grouping by Elmm Law Group from MAG’s location list.
Look across all 100 ranked intersections and the same street names keep appearing. These West and Central Phoenix arterials carry high-speed, multi-lane traffic through dense commercial and residential areas, which leads to left-turn and red-light side-impact crashes.
Nationally, about one-quarter of traffic deaths and about half of all traffic injuries are attributed to intersections, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Two Arizona-specific factors make it worse:
Intersection crashes are often hard to prove, because each driver says they had the green and insurers use that dispute to reduce payouts. Under Arizona’s pure comparative negligence rule (A.R.S. 12-2505), any share of blame assigned to you reduces your recovery.
For statewide trends, see our Arizona car accident statistics report.
West Phoenix. In MAG’s 2018 to 2022 ranking of the 100 highest-risk intersections in the Phoenix region, the busiest crash locations sit on arterials such as Indian School Rd, McDowell Rd and Thomas Rd between roughly 27th Ave and 99th Ave. 99th Ave and Lower Buckeye Rd had the most crashes of any ranked intersection (429).
It depends on which official ranking you use. The City of Phoenix’s Road Safety Action Plan ranks 75th Ave and Indian School Rd as the highest crash-risk intersection in the city, followed by 67th Ave and Indian School Rd and 67th Ave and McDowell Rd (2015 to 2019 data). MAG’s newer regional ranking (2018 to 2022 data) puts 67th Ave and McDowell Rd at #1, with 229 crashes in five years. The intersection with the most crashes, 99th Ave and Lower Buckeye Rd (429), ranks #10 because its crashes were less severe on average.
About 96 per day. ADOT’s crash data shows 35,008 reported crashes in the City of Phoenix in 2025, which works out to roughly 96 a day. Those crashes killed 238 people and injured 14,794.
Volume and design. Phoenix is the state’s largest city, and its grid of wide, fast, multi-lane arterials creates long crossing distances and many left-turn conflicts at signals. Statewide, ADOT says speeding was a factor in 31.8% of 2025 traffic deaths and alcohol in 28.9%, and Arizona has had the highest per-capita rate of red-light-running deaths in AAA Foundation research.
Our team can pull the crash report, signal timing, and camera footage that show who was actually at fault. Gordi is directly involved in your case. Learn more about our Phoenix car accident lawyer and Mesa car accident lawyer teams. Call our team at 480-329-5084, available 24/7 in English, Spanish, and Serbo-Croatian.
Different crashes raise different legal issues. See our Phoenix motorcycle accident lawyer, Phoenix truck accident lawyer, Phoenix pedestrian accident lawyer and Phoenix bicycle accident lawyer pages. For a crash that took a loved one’s life, our Phoenix wrongful death lawyer team can help.
About this page. Compiled by Elmm Law Group, an Arizona personal injury law firm, from the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Top 100 Intersections Ranked by Crash Risk (2018 to 2022 ADOT crash data), the City of Phoenix Road Safety Action Plan and its 2025 Annual Report, and ADOT’s Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Data. Crash-risk rankings reflect MAG’s weighted Intersection Safety Score (50% severity, 25% frequency, 25% crash type). These figures may be freely cited or embedded with attribution and a link to this page.
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