Payson's Most Dangerous Roads

This page sorts Payson's crashes by road. Every crash in UDOT's public records inside city limits was placed on the street the officer named, when it was close, or on the nearest street in the state's road map. Interstate and ramp crashes are counted separately, as are crashes in private lots and those that matched no road. Serious or fatal means a death or a suspected serious injury.

Of 2,318 crashes, 1,739 were on the streets ranked here, 495 on I-15 lanes and ramps, 65 on private property and 19 on no matched road. Just 31 street crashes (1.8%) were serious or fatal, the seventh-lowest share of the 57 cities and under the 2.6% for non-freeway roads across the seven counties in this data (Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, Summit, Cache and Washington).

I-15 Took More Lives Than Payson's Streets

I-15's 488 crashes in Payson are a little over a quarter as many as the streets', yet they killed 7 people, against 5 on every street combined. 13 of the interstate crashes were serious or fatal (2.7%), a higher rate than the streets' 1.8%.

On the streets the harm is spread thin. Main Street had 2 of the 5 street deaths and 6 serious or fatal crashes, the most of any street, but no road reached ten serious crashes in the seven and a half years.

Seven Payson Roads, Ranked

Every Payson street with 50 or more crashes in the records, highest count first, interstate lanes and ramps excluded. A crash where two listed roads meet is counted once, on the road the report named.

• Main Street: 375 crashes, 6 serious or fatal, 2 deaths. Angle crashes were 141. The 100 North junction had 70; 800 South had 23, 2 of them serious.
• 800 South (SR-178): 210 crashes, 4 serious or fatal, no deaths. Its busiest junction was 1270 West, Turf Farm Road, with 48 crashes and 2 serious ones.
• 100 North (SR-198): 208 crashes, 5 serious or fatal, no deaths. The 600 East junction accounted for 3 of the serious ones among its 44 crashes. Yearly crashes fell from 37 in 2019 to 15 in 2024.
• Highway 198 (SR-198): 135 crashes, 1 serious, no deaths. A teen driver was involved in 69 of them, and the 800 South junction had 55.
• 100 West (SR-198): 94 crashes, 2 serious, no deaths. Drivers fled in 8; the 300 South junction had 16.
• Turf Farm Road (1270 West): 79 crashes, 1 serious, no deaths. 64 were angle crashes, the highest share of any road here.
• Utah Avenue: 74 crashes; its only serious or fatal crash killed 1 person. Drivers left the scene in 9 (12.2%). The 100 West junction had 29.

The seven hold 1,175 of Payson's street crashes (67.6%), 20 of the 31 serious or fatal ones and 3 of the 5 deaths. With counts this small, the order of the lower roads can change with a handful of crashes.

Highway 198's Three Segments

State Route 198 appears in the road map under three names in Payson: 100 North (208 crashes), Highway 198 (135) and 100 West (94). Counted as one route they total 437 crashes and 8 serious or fatal ones, more of both than Main Street. The ranking above keeps them apart because that is how the map names them and how people give directions.

Who Was Driving, and How Payson Crashes Happened

A teen driver was involved in 593 street crashes (34.1%), ninth-highest of the 57 cities and above the seven-county 23.8%. Angle crashes were 39.8%, also ninth. Motorcycles were in 8 of the 31 serious or fatal crashes and pedestrians in 5. Older drivers appeared in 308 crashes (17.7%), and an unbelted occupant was noted in 4 of the serious ones. The afternoon commute, 3 to 7 p.m., held 626 crashes (36.0%), more than any other block of the day.

Hit and run was flagged in 95 crashes (5.5%, against 8.6% regionally). Snow, ice or slush was on the road in 111, and December (166) and October (165) were the busiest months across 2018 to 2024. Yearly street crashes held between 208 and 248 from 2018 through 2024, with no clear trend.

Ramps, Lanes and What the Count Omits

I-15 and the ramps in Payson recorded 495 crashes: 488 on the interstate, 3 on the SR-115 interchange ramps and 4 elsewhere. All the figures leave out property-damage crashes below Utah's reporting threshold, and a crash where two ranked roads meet appears on only one.

Payson Crash Claims Under Utah Law

Utah's no-fault coverage pays first: your personal injury protection covers at least $3,000 in medical expenses regardless of fault (Utah Code § 31A-22-307). A claim against the at-fault driver for pain and other general damages needs an injury meeting § 31A-22-309, such as a broken bone, permanent impairment or over $3,000 in medical costs; an uninsured motorist claim is not held to that threshold. An unidentified driver who left the scene is treated as uninsured (§ 31A-22-305(2)(b)). You recover only if the other drivers' combined fault is greater than yours, and your share reduces the award (§ 78B-5-818). Most suits must be filed within four years (§ 78B-2-307); a claim against a city or UDOT over a dangerous road needs written notice within one year (§ 63G-7-402). See our Payson car accident page, our posts on teen-driver crashes and motorcycle claims, and our guides to how fault is proven, PIP claims and the filing deadline.

Recovering Costs After a Payson Wreck

• Medical and income: treatment, rehabilitation, medication and the work time an injury takes from you.
• Day to day: pain, stress and the activities and family time the injury disrupts.
• Down the road: care still to come, any reduced ability to earn, and your damaged vehicle.

Notes on Payson's Crash Records

Source: UDOT Crash_Locations for January 1, 2018 through August 4, 2025, when the public feed stops. City limits are UGRC's current municipal boundaries, applied to all years; roads are UGRC's Utah Roads, matched within 35 meters with preference for the road in the report. Serious or fatal means coded Fatal or Suspected Serious Injury. Regional figures are non-freeway crashes in the seven counties named above, and rankings compare the 57 cities with enough crashes to rank their roads. Every city we have ranked this way is listed on our statewide page, Utah’s most dangerous roads.