Over 2.8 million intersection accidents occurred in the United States in 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as well as an additional 2.8 million intersection-related accidents. This represented an almost nine percent increase in accidents involving intersections when compared to the previous year.
NHTSA data shows that over 47 percent of U.S. crashes in 2018 involved an intersection. Over 51 percent of injury crashes involved an intersection and over 28 percent of fatal crashes involved an intersection.
Over 1.8 million intersection-related injury crashes occurred in the U.S. in 2018, as well as over 14,000 intersection-related fatal crashes.
26 percent of pedestrian fatalities in 2018 occurred in intersections, as well as 40 percent of pedalcyclist fatalities, according to the NHTSA. 40 percent of pedestrian fatalities among people 70 and older in 2018 happened at intersections, according to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
32 percent of crash deaths in urban areas occurred at intersections, according to IIHS, compared with 15 percent of crash deaths in rural areas.
An estimated 165,000 U.S. motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are injured every year by red-light runners, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 939 people were killed in accidents in the U.S. which involved red light running in 2017, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. 194 of the deaths occurred in California.
California Intersection Accident Statistics
59,945 intersection accidents occurred in California in 2019, leading to 89,673 injuries and 726 deaths, according to provisional UC Berkeley data. About 32 percent of all accidents in California occurred in intersections in 2019, as well as about 34 percent of all accident injuries and about 20 percent of accident deaths.
The following is a list of how many intersection accidents occurred in each county in California in 2019, as well as how many injuries and deaths resulted from those accidents:
Alameda County: 2,538 accidents, 3,362 injuries and 17 deaths
Alpine County: 2 accidents, 3 injuries and 0 deaths
Amador County: 44 accidents, 63 injuries and 1 death
Butte County: 310 accidents, 439 injuries and 6 deaths
Calaveras County: 35 accidents, 47 injuries and 0 deaths
Contra Costa County: 1,183 accidents, 1,645 injuries and 5 deaths
Del Norte County: 29 accidents, 61 injuries and 0 deaths
El Dorado County: 124 accidents, 179 injuries and 2 deaths
Fresno County: 899 accidents, 1,512 injuries and 34 deaths
Glenn County: 22 accidents, 44 injuries and 1 death
Humboldt County: 164 accidents, 222 injuries and 0 deaths
Imperial County: 163 accidents, 268 injuries and 3 deaths
Inyo County: 13 accidents, 17 injuries and 2 deaths
Kern County: 1,158 accidents, 1,886 injuries and 25 deaths
Kings County: 237 accidents, 363 injuries and 7 deaths
Lake County: 54 accidents, 74 injuries and 2 deaths
Lassen County: 10 accidents, 20 injuries and 1 death
Los Angeles County: 21,756 accidents, 33,344 injuries and 197 deaths
Madera County: 157 accidents, 264 injuries and 12 deaths
Marin County: 175 accidents, 223 injuries and 1 death
Mariposa County: 7 accidents, 10 injuries and 0 deaths
Mendocino County: 43 accidents, 64 injuries and 2 deaths
Merced County: 466 accidents, 739 injuries and 6 deaths
Modoc County: 1 accident, 1 injury and 0 deaths
Mono County: 6 accidents, 11 injuries and 0 deaths
Monterey County: 495 accidents, 773 injuries and 3 deaths
Napa County: 237 accidents, 333 injuries and 3 deaths
Nevada County: 56 accidents, 76 injuries and 0 deaths
Orange County: 3,317 accidents, 5,182 injuries and 36 deaths
Placer County: 401 accidents, 584 injuries and 2 deaths
Plumas County: 6 accidents, 11 injuries and 0 deaths
Riverside County: 2,855 accidents, 4,400 injuries and 56 deaths
Sacramento County: 2,543 accidents, 3,829 injuries and 34 deaths
San Benito County: 61 accidents, 85 injuries and 4 deaths
San Bernardino County: 3,472 accidents, 5,232 injuries, 69 deaths
San Diego County: 3,803 accidents, 5,515 injuries, 34 deaths
San Francisco County: 2,038 accidents, 2,633 injuries, 11 deaths
San Joaquin County: 1,370 accidents, 2,105 injuries, 25 deaths
San Luis Obispo County: 257 accidents, 333 injuries, 2 deaths
San Mateo County: 786 accidents, 1,017 injuries, 4 deaths
Santa Barbara County: 554 accidents, 775 injuries, 6 deaths
Santa Clara County: 2,853 accidents, 3,981 injuries, 31 deaths
Santa Cruz County: 195 accidents, 245 injuries, 1 death
Shasta County: 151 accidents, 206 injuries, 2 deaths
Sierra County: 0 accidents, 0 injuries, 0 deaths
Siskiyou County: 23 accidents, 41 injuries, 0 deaths
Solano County: 476 accidents, 684 injuries, 10 deaths
Sonoma County: 607 accidents, 873 injuries, 2 deaths
Stanislaus County: 1,190 accidents, 1,897 injuries, 22 deaths
Sutter County: 153 accidents, 237 injuries, 5 deaths
Tehama County: 52 accidents, 83 injuries, 0 deaths
Trinity County: 5 accidents, 7 injuries, 0 deaths
Tulare County: 706 accidents, 1,139 injuries, 15 deaths
Tuolumne County: 66 accidents, 92 injuries, 2 deaths
Ventura County: 1,233 accidnents, 1,875 injuries, 9 deaths
Yolo County: 261 accidents, 378 injuries, 6 deaths
Yuba County: 98 accidents, 147 injuries, 5 deaths
Jeffrey Nadrich
Jeffrey Nadrich is a nationally-recognized California plaintiff’s personal injury attorney. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law. He has successfully represented thousands of injury clients over the last 40 years.
