Provo's Most Dangerous Roads

Each crash in UDOT's public records with a location inside Provo city limits was placed on a street using the state's road map, with the road named in the officer's report deciding close calls. Crashes on I-15 and its ramps get their own section further down, and crashes in private lots are not ranked. Serious or fatal means the report listed a death or a suspected serious injury. The period runs from January 1, 2018 to August 4, 2025, where UDOT's published data stops.

That process yields 11,904 crashes in Provo: 1,944 on I-15 or a ramp, 145 on private property, 56 that could not be tied to a street, and 9,759 on city streets. 278 of the street crashes were serious or fatal (2.8%) and 32 people died. Across the seven counties this data set covers, Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, Summit, Cache and Washington, 2.6% of street crashes were serious or fatal. An injury, counting possible injuries, was reported in 35.7% of Provo's street crashes, against 32.1% for those counties.

Walkers and Cyclists in Provo's Worst Crashes

A pedestrian was involved in 312 of Provo's 9,759 street crashes, 3.2%. Pedestrians also figure in 66 of the 278 serious or fatal crashes, 23.7%. Cyclists show the same imbalance: 230 crashes (2.4%) but 30 serious or fatal ones (10.8%). Across the seven counties, pedestrians are in 2.0% of street crashes and 15.1% of the serious ones, and cyclists in 1.2% and 5.4%, so Provo runs higher on every one of those measures.

Among the streets ranked here, University Avenue has the most of those cases. Its 1,839 crashes include 41 with a pedestrian, 11 of them serious or fatal, and 45 with a cyclist, 6 serious or fatal. Freedom Boulevard had 32 pedestrian crashes, 6 serious or fatal, and 500 West had 18, of which 7 were serious or fatal. Motorcyclists add to the toll in another way: they were in 2.4% of crashes but 59 of the serious or fatal ones, 21.2%.

Provo Streets by Crash Count

Streets are ordered by the crashes UDOT placed on them inside city limits, January 2018 through August 4, 2025. A crash where two of these streets meet counts on only one of them, the street the officer's report names, so the junction figures describe each street's own crashes rather than every crash at that corner.

• University Avenue (US-189) — 1,839 crashes, 47 serious or fatal, 2 deaths. Rear-end collisions are 42.1% of its crashes. Cougar Boulevard (83), 2230 North (81), and 500 North and 800 North (79 each) are its busiest junctions, and 300 South (78) had 4 serious or fatal crashes. UDOT estimates reach about 44,000 vehicles a day on the avenue.
• Center Street — 1,044 crashes, 24 serious or fatal, 2 deaths. Side-impact crashes lead at 40.2%. 900 West is its busiest junction by a wide margin with 98 crashes, followed by 500 West (60) and Freedom Boulevard (54, 3 serious or fatal).
• Freedom Boulevard (200 West) — 692 crashes, 18 serious or fatal, 1 death. Side impacts make up 57.1% of its crashes, the highest share among these ten. Cougar Boulevard (79) is its busiest junction, ahead of 100 North and 300 South (58 each).
• State Street (US-89) — 667 crashes, 32 serious or fatal, 8 deaths, more deaths than on any other street ranked here. Slate Canyon Drive and Grandview Lane each had 6 serious or fatal crashes, while 1720 North had the most crashes at 69. Officers flagged impairment in 16 of its crashes, 5 of them serious or fatal.
• 500 West — 522 crashes, 17 serious or fatal, 2 deaths. 48.1% were rear-end crashes, the highest share on this list. Its crashes collect at 800 North (60, 4 serious or fatal) and 940 North (56).
• University Parkway (1650 North) — 372 crashes, 8 serious or fatal, no deaths. A driver was flagged for disregarding a signal or sign in 82 crashes, 22.0%, the highest share among these ten. Canyon Road (63) and 2230 North (60) are its busiest junctions.
• 900 East — 298 crashes, 5 serious or fatal, 3 deaths. Three of its five serious or fatal crashes killed someone. 700 North (31) and 820 North (26, 3 serious or fatal) are where its crashes gather.
• Cougar Boulevard (1230 North) — 231 crashes, 3 serious or fatal, no deaths. More than half, 54.1%, were side impacts, and 300 West (60), Freedom Boulevard (44) and University Avenue (41) account for most of them.
• 500 North — 203 crashes, 10 serious or fatal (4.9%), 1 death. A driver left the scene in 17 crashes, 8.4%, the highest hit-and-run share among these ten, and pedestrians were involved in 10, 4 of them serious or fatal.
• Geneva Road (SR-114) — 190 crashes, 7 serious or fatal, no deaths. A teen driver was involved in 69 of them, 36.3%, the highest share on this list. 820 North (38) and 1680 North (27) are its busiest junctions.

Together the ten streets hold 6,058 crashes, 62.1% of Provo's street total, along with 171 of the 278 serious or fatal crashes and 19 of the 32 deaths. University Avenue alone has 18.8% of the crashes and 2 of the deaths; State Street, with about a third as many crashes, has 8.

Measured by Harm Instead of Volume

Sorted by serious or fatal crashes, State Street climbs from fourth to second with 32, behind University Avenue's 47 and ahead of Center Street's 24. 500 North rises from ninth to sixth with 10, and Lakeview Parkway, 14th by crash count with 118, ties University Parkway at 8. Lakeview Parkway's 6.8% serious-or-fatal share is the highest among Provo's fifteen busiest streets, and its yearly crash count rose from 8 in 2018 to 25 in 2022.

Side Impacts, Distraction and a September Peak

Side-impact (angle) collisions are the most common crash on Provo's streets at 40.5%, against 32.6% across the seven counties, and they make up 95 of the 278 serious or fatal crashes. Rear-end crashes are less common here, 27.5% against 30.2%. The largest group of serious crashes, 137, falls in the category UDOT reports as single-vehicle or not applicable, which takes in a vehicle striking a pedestrian, a cyclist or a fixed object.

Officers flagged a distracted driver in 13.3% of Provo's street crashes and a driver disregarding a signal or sign in 12.4%, compared with 9.8% and 7.8% across the seven counties. Hit-and-runs were less common, 5.3% against 8.6%. Over the complete years 2018 through 2024, September has the most crashes, 934, while October is the peak month across the seven counties. The yearly total fell from 1,693 in 2018 to 1,320 in 2024, yet serious or fatal crashes barely moved, 41 in 2018 and 40 in 2024. The 2020 count of 877 reflects the pandemic-era drop seen across the region.

I-15's Share of Provo Crashes

I-15 and its ramps inside Provo account for 1,944 crashes, 16.3% of the city's total, and they are left out of the street ranking. I-15 itself had 1,868 crashes, 45 of them serious or fatal, and 5 deaths. Two limits apply to every figure here: crashes below Utah's property-damage reporting threshold never enter UDOT's records, and nothing after August 4, 2025 is included.

Your Rights After a Provo Crash

Personal injury protection on your own policy pays first, covering at least $3,000 in medical bills whatever caused the crash (Utah Code § 31A-22-307). That coverage reaches the named insured and relatives in the same household who are hurt in an accident involving any motor vehicle, which is how a Provo walker or cyclist with a household auto policy can draw on it (§ 31A-22-308). To pursue the other driver for pain and similar losses, the injury must pass the § 31A-22-309 threshold, for example a broken bone, a permanent impairment or more than $3,000 in medical costs; an uninsured motorist claim is not held to that threshold. A driver who flees and is never found is treated as uninsured (§ 31A-22-305(2)(b)). Fault is compared, and you recover only when the others' combined fault is greater than yours (§ 78B-5-818). Most injury suits must be filed within four years (§ 78B-2-307), but a claim that a city or state road was unsafe needs a written notice of claim within one year (§ 63G-7-402). Our Provo car accident, pedestrian accident and bicycle accident pages explain each kind of claim, and Provo’s most dangerous intersections ranks the signals where people on foot and on bikes are hit. The statewide guides cover how fault is proven, how to file a PIP claim and the deadline to bring a case.

Damages in a Provo Crash Claim

• Medical and financial: emergency care, surgery and therapy, prescriptions, missed paychecks, lost earning capacity, and repairing or replacing your vehicle.
• Personal: physical pain, anxiety about driving or riding again, and the routines and activities an injury interrupts.
• Long-term: later procedures, extended rehabilitation, and help at home when recovery stops short of full.

How Provo's Figures Were Compiled

Crash data: UDOT's public Crash_Locations records for Utah County, every crash type, January 1, 2018 to August 4, 2025, when the public series ends. City limits: UGRC's current municipal boundaries, applied to all years. Street matching: each crash went to the nearest UGRC Utah Roads segment within 35 meters, preferring the road named in the report, a match that agreed with the report's road in 89% of crashes across the data. Serious or fatal means coded fatal or suspected serious injury. Monthly figures use only the full years 2018 to 2024. Flags are officer entries, not findings of fault. Comparison figures cover the seven counties in this data set. Every city we have ranked this way is listed on our statewide page, Utah’s most dangerous roads.