Phoenix Most Dangerous Intersections and Roads for Cyclists Are Unranked Citywide

Phoenix maintains two rankings of its most dangerous intersections, and they barely agree. The citywide ranking, the 2024 High Injury Network, counts collisions involving anyone on the street. The bicycle ranking, which Phoenix released in March 2026, scores each crossing mainly on accidents that injured riders. You cannot plan a bicycle route from the citywide ranking, because fifteen of the twenty-one worst crossings for riders are not on it. Bicycle Accident Lawyers Group built this page from Phoenix’s own bicycle-specific crash data.

Key Takeaways

• Phoenix ranks 21 dangerous intersections as most hazardous for riders, and 15 are missing from the 2024 citywide High Injury Network, so that ranking is an unreliable guide for a bicycle route.
• Four out of five Phoenix bicycle crashes happen at or within 150 feet of an intersection, and about half occur where no traffic signals or signs control the crossing.
• Major streets are involved in 77 percent of Phoenix bicycle crashes at intersections, so use a parallel neighborhood street where one exists.
• A police report does not settle fault or liability, and Arizona law reduces what you recover by your share of the blame rather than ending your case.
• Arizona law gives you two years to sue, and filing against the government has a 180-day deadline.

How Many Phoenix Crashes Involve a Bicycle

Phoenix recorded 304 bicycle crashes in 2024, out of 23,676 traffic crashes across Phoenix. Traffic accidents killed 224 people that year, including fatalities from car accident crashes, pedestrian incidents, and bicycle collisions. The bicycle crashes injured 290 people and killed 15, a count of people rather than incidents, since one crash can hurt more than one person. Maricopa County, which contains Phoenix, had 991 of Arizona’s 1,379 bicycle crashes in 2024, about 72 percent, and 27 of the state’s 44 rider deaths, according to crash data from the Arizona Department of Transportation’s 2024 crash facts.

The Most Dangerous Intersections in Phoenix for Every Road User

99th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road had more crashes than any other Phoenix intersection in 2022, with 94 within 150 feet of the corner, according to Phoenix’s 2022 traffic collision summary. That ranking counts drivers, pedestrians and bicycle riders together, so it cannot identify which dangerous intersection is worst for riders alone.

Only 43rd Avenue and Peoria Avenue also appears among the 2024 bicycle leaders.

The Intersections Phoenix Ranks as Most Dangerous for Cyclists

Fifteen of the twenty-one dangerous intersections Phoenix ranks as most hazardous for riders are missing from the 2024 citywide High Injury Network. Only six appear in both rankings, as Table 6 of Phoenix’s March 2026 study shows, so a route planned from the citywide ranking passes fifteen high-risk locations the bicycle data already identified. The study, Phoenix’s Safe Streets and Roads for All project, publishes two bicycle-only networks:

Busiest Bicycle Intersections by Year

Phoenix’s yearly counts name the busiest bicycle intersections, counting crashes within 150 feet:

Counts that small change with a single crash, so a location can top one year and disappear the next without becoming any safer. Plan your route around the eight-year high-injury network, and treat the high-risk network as a warning of where the same crash type exists before the accident numbers arrive.

The Most Dangerous Roads in Phoenix

Indian School Road had more crashes along its length than any other Phoenix street in 2022, with 342, followed by Camelback and Thomas, according to the same 2022 traffic collision summary. Those counts cover accidents between intersections, with the same all-vehicle limit:

Indian School also holds two of the eleven top-crash intersections and 16th Street, a 2021 bicycle leader, while Camelback holds 27th Avenue and 20th Street. Phoenix’s March 2026 bicycle and pedestrian safety study names 26 dangerous segments. Its densest cluster of high-risk areas sits northwest of downtown, along Interstate 17 between Indian School and Bell and north of Interstate 10 through west Phoenix and Maryvale, where commuter traffic and commercial traffic converge near schools and shopping centers.

Major streets are the wide arterial corridors a mile apart, such as 7th Avenue, 16th Street and Camelback. They are involved in 77 percent of Phoenix bicycle crashes at intersections and 86 percent of those away from one. Intersections where two neighborhood streets meet produced just 6 percent, so ride a parallel neighborhood street wherever one runs beside a major corridor.

What Makes a Phoenix Intersection Dangerous?

A Phoenix intersection makes the high-risk bicycle list based on how the street is built and used rather than on traffic volume alone. By the data in Phoenix’s March 2026 bicycle and pedestrian safety study, major streets carry about six times the average street’s crash risk, and neighborhood streets about one eighth of it.

When and Where Risk Peaks

Four out of five bicycle crashes occur at or within 150 feet of an intersection, yet the stretches between them produced five of the year’s nine rider fatalities. The afternoon commute, 3 PM to 6 PM, produced 24 percent of crashes, so avoid the busiest dangerous intersections during that window where your schedule allows.

What to Do After a Car Accident or Bicycle Crash at One of These Crossings

A police report does not settle fault or liability. It records what the officer concluded that day, often from one side of the scene alone if you were too injured to give yours.

Evidence to Collect

If a motorist hits you at a crossing Phoenix has already ranked, a public record of that place existed before your car accident, and it can answer a report that puts the blame on you. Phoenix’s 2021 bicycle crash summary blames the rider alone for 43 percent of intersection accidents.

Three Steps to Protect Your Case

• Get medical care, even for an injury that feels minor. The 2021 summary puts the chance of leaving an accident uninjured at less than one percent.
• Photograph the vehicle, the crossing and your injuries before anything changes.
• Identify the vehicle if the motorist fled the scene. Phoenix logged 57 bicycle hit-and-runs in 2024, and drivers fled roughly one in five 2021 crashes.

Talk to a Bicycle Accident Attorney About Your Case

If a motorist hit you at one of the dangerous intersections or roads named on this page, or anywhere else in Phoenix, our team is ready for a free case evaluation. Robert Goldwater is the firm’s lead car accident attorney and personal injury lawyer who handles bicycle accident cases only. Arizona law gives you two years to sue, and that clock is already running.

Our clients pay nothing unless we recover compensation for their losses, medical bills, lost wages, and injuries. Contact the Bicycle Accident Lawyers Group today for your case evaluation.

Arizona Laws Cited on This Page

Every legal rule above comes from one of these, linked to the state’s own text so you can read it yourself.

Posted by Robert Goldwater

Robert Goldwater is a cyclist representing cyclists. He has practiced personal injury and wrongful death law for more than 20 years, graduating with Honors from Arizona State University Law School, and has helped recover over $1 billion for clients, including injured cyclists.

All articles by Robert Goldwater