In addition to being the most populous city in Nevada, Las Vegas is a globally popular tourist destination. As a result, it experiences extremely heavy traffic throughout the year. This makes the Las Vegas Valley a hot spot for traffic accidents, including car crashes, truck collisions, and pedestrian accidents.
Las Vegas car accident statistics are not just numbers. These crashes are a leading cause of injuries and deaths in Nevada. And even when accident victims survive their injuries, they may suffer permanent disabilities that affect their capacity to work and care for themselves.
De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas, NV helps car accident victims recover fair compensation for the losses they suffered at someone else’s hands. If you’ve been injured due to another driver’s negligence, contact our law firm at (702) 222-9999 for a free initial consultation with a Las Vegas car accident attorney.
How Our Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You With Your Car Accident Case in Las Vegas, NV
De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers is a family-run law firm dedicated to helping accident victims in Las Vegas, Nevada recover fair compensation for their injuries. Since its founding in 1989, our law firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for its clients.
After a car accident, we can help you by providing the following:
- A free case evaluation where we listen to your story and analyze your legal options
- Bilingual attorneys and staff to make sure you can communicate with us comfortably
- Experienced legal counsel to file your insurance claim and fight for fair compensation
- Seasoned litigators who are prepared to litigate if your case does not settle
Car accidents can cause severe physical injuries and emotional distress. Contact De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your car accident and the compensation you can seek for the injuries you suffered.
Las Vegas Car Accidents By the Numbers
Before delving into the numbers, it’s important that you understand the limitations of publicly available statistics. The City of Las Vegas is only part of what most people consider “Las Vegas.”
The wider Las Vegas metro area includes the City of Las Vegas as well as the unincorporated areas of Clark County, including the Strip, UNLV, the airport, and Green Valley.
This definition of “Las Vegas,” therefore, includes everything between North Las Vegas and Henderson. But characterizing the city in this way presents some difficulties. Statistics from the state focus on all of Clark County, which would include North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, and Mesquite, along with the City of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County.
Statistics from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) focus on the right area. But these numbers leave out accidents investigated by the Clark County Sheriff’s Department and the Nevada Highway Patrol. Since US-95, I-215, Boulder Highway, and I-15 are some of the hotspots for crashes, LVMPD’s statistics underestimate the true number of crashes.
Injuries and Fatalities From Las Vegas Car Crashes
Traffic experts have two ways of comparing car crash fatalities. The deaths per 100,000 residents method normalizes traffic deaths according to population. This number allows you to compare traffic deaths in California and Nevada despite the enormous population difference.
You can also compare fatalities using the deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) method, which normalizes traffic deaths according to how much people use their cars. This number allows you to compare traffic deaths in Nevada, where only 2.9% of commuters use public transportation, and in New York, where 28% of commuters use buses, trains, and ferries.
Based on these numbers, Nevada has mixed traffic death rates compared to the national average. The U.S. has 12.9 deaths per 100,000 residents and 1.37 deaths per 100 million VMT. Nevada has 12.2 deaths per 100,000 residents and 1.42 deaths per 100 million VMT.
In 2022, the LVMPD reported 19,891 traffic accidents in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. This translates to roughly 54.5 traffic accidents each day. These crashes included 148 fatal accidents and 11,071 non-fatal injury accidents.
152 people lost their lives in Las Vegas traffic crashes in 2022. The LVMPD’s statistics do not report how many people suffered an injury. However, at least 11,071 people suffered a non-fatal traffic injury in 2022, according to the LVMPD.
Vulnerable Road Users in Las Vegas
Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. They are considered to be vulnerable because they have little to no protection in a collision with a vehicle. As a result, when they get hit in a car accident, they have a much higher likelihood of injury and death than motorists.
The LVMPD reported that in 2022, cars hit 814 pedestrians. Of these, 59 died. Drivers in Las Vegas also caused 37 fatal motorcycle accidents and 11 fatal bicycle accidents.
Dangerous Times To Drive in Las Vegas
In many cities, the most dangerous times for car accidents are the morning or afternoon commute periods. But Las Vegas has a different pattern. According to the state’s Zero Fatalities program, Las Vegas traffic accidents peak between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The city’s crashes also tend to happen in the dark rather than during daylight hours. This matches up with a later peak time for crashes.
When you look at the days of the week that have the most crashes, the same pattern gets repeated. Las Vegas car accidents tend to peak between Thursday through Sunday and drop between Monday and Wednesday. The crash times and days show that car accidents tend to happen when people are most likely to go out.
To reinforce this point, the months in which car crashes are most likely to happen include January, March, April, September, and December.
These months roughly correspond to some of the busiest times during the year for Las Vegas tourism:
- New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
- Spring Break
- Labor Day
- Christmas
This is not to imply that visitors are responsible for most of Las Vegas’s traffic accidents. During these high-tourism periods, traffic is simply heavier overall. More people are working, and more events are happening. These factors combine to produce traffic crashes.
The Most Common Causes of Las Vegas Car Crashes
The LVMPD reports that the top causes of car crashes in its jurisdiction include the following:
Impaired Driving
According to Zero Fatalities, intoxicated driving caused more traffic deaths in Las Vegas than any other single cause. Impaired driving covers drivers who are intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, or both.
Nevada has seen a shift in the nature of impaired driving statistics since recreational cannabis was decriminalized in 2016. Alcohol-related crashes have fallen, and crashes involving marijuana or marijuana combined with another substance have risen.
Distracted Driving
Zero Fatalities found that Las Vegas distracted driving crashes and deaths have also declined in recent years. Nonetheless, they remain a leading cause of crashes after impaired driving.
Distractions include any activity that takes your mind, hands, or eyes away from driving.
Some common distractions include the following:
- Cell phone use
- Eating or drinking
- Talking
- External distractions, like crashes or billboards
Distracted driving crashes tend to produce rear-end collisions. These, in turn, often cause whiplash injuries and concussions.
Speeding
Speeding includes exceeding the speed limit and driving faster than conditions allow. Las Vegas drivers have a reputation for speeding, and this behavior has led to numerous accidents. According to the LVMPD, speeding was one of the top causes of fatal car accidents in 2022.
Speeding contributes to other traffic violations as well, like running red lights or failing to stop at an occupied crosswalk. Speeding also increases crash energy, which can transform an otherwise survivable crash into a fatal one.
Failing To Yield the Right of Way
Almost all intersection crashes happen when a driver fails to yield the right of way.
Some forms of failing to yield include the following:
- Navigating a two- or four-way stop incorrectly
- Disobeying a yield sign or yellow light
- Turning right or left before traffic has cleared
- Running a stop sign or red light
- Failing to stop for a pedestrian or a cyclist in a crosswalk
When you get into an accident at an intersection, your car tends to get hit at an angle or broadside. These are especially dangerous types of collisions. If a car hits the side of your vehicle, your door can collapse, and you can suffer crushing injuries such as shattered bones.
Dangerous Locations in Las Vegas For Car Accidents
The Nevada Department of Transportation mapped all traffic accidents occurring between 2016 and 2020 in Nevada. This map shows crash hotspots where traffic accidents have tended to accumulate over time.
Some of the most dangerous roads and highways in Las Vegas are:
- I-15
- Las Vegas Boulevard
- US-95
- I-215 east of Eastern Ave.
This map also allows you to identify the following most dangerous intersections in Las Vegas:
- The interchange of I-15 and US-95, also called the Spaghetti Bowl
- South interchange of I-15 and I-215
- Tropicana Ave. and Paradise Rd.
- Flamingo Rd. and Las Vegas Blvd.
- US-95 and Lake Mead Blvd.
These roads and intersections are some of the city’s busiest. Heavy traffic combined with dangerous behaviors like speeding or distracted driving has caused many of the crashes in these locations.
Call Our Las Vegas Car Accident Lawyers For a Free Consultation
A car accident can devastate your health and finances. Contact De Castroverde Accident & Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your car accident injuries and the financial compensation you can seek for them.