Washington City's Most Dangerous Roads

This ranking covers the city of Washington in Washington County, not the state. We took UDOT's public crash reports that fall within city limits and tied each one to a road, first by the street written in the report and, when that street wasn't nearby, by the closest road on the state's map. I-15, its ramps, parking lots and unmatched locations are kept out of the street totals. Serious or fatal means the officer recorded a death or a suspected serious injury.

All told the records show 2,971 crashes: 2,126 on city streets, 766 on I-15 and interchange ramps, 59 on private property and 20 on no matched road. Of the street crashes, 62 were serious or fatal (2.9%, against 2.6% on non-freeway roads in the seven counties covered: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, Summit, Cache and Washington), and 10 fatal crashes killed 11 people.

Telegraph Street Carries a Fifth of the Crashes

Telegraph Street's 445 crashes are 20.9% of the city's street total. Rear-end collisions led (169), and 1 fatal crash took 2 lives. Its busiest junctions were 700 West (78), Green Spring Drive (53) and 300 East (46, 2 of them serious).

Most of Telegraph Street's serious crashes are recent: 6 in 2022 and 5 in 2024, out of 12 for the whole period. A bicyclist was involved in 3 of them. UDOT estimates reach about 18,000 vehicles a day on the street.

Washington City Roads by Crash Total

The eight roads below each recorded at least 50 crashes from January 2018 through August 4, 2025. They are ordered by crash count, with interstate and ramp crashes left out; a crash where two of them meet is counted once, on the road the report named.

• Telegraph Street: 445 crashes; 12 serious or fatal; 2 deaths. An older driver was in 132 of its crashes.
• Green Spring Drive: 280 crashes; 4 serious or fatal; no deaths. Its Telegraph Street junction had 60, Red Cliffs Drive 47 and Red Hills Parkway 34. UDOT estimates reach about 24,000 vehicles a day.
• Washington Parkway: 158 crashes; 2 serious or fatal, both fatal, 2 deaths. 111 of its crashes were at 1100 East.
• Washington Fields Road: 137 crashes; 4 serious or fatal; 1 death. Lost Ridge Drive had 2 serious crashes among 10; George Washington Boulevard had the most, 24.
• Red Cliffs Drive: 128 crashes; 2 serious or fatal; 1 death. An older driver was in 45 (35.2%).
• Highway 9 (SR-9): 108 crashes; 4 serious or fatal; 1 death. 72 were rear-end crashes. 2019 alone had 43, against 8 to 14 in every other full year.
• Buena Vista Boulevard: 53 crashes; none serious or fatal. The Green Spring Drive junction had 12.
• 300 East: 52 crashes; 1 serious; no deaths. Industrial Road was its busiest junction (14).

The eight together hold 1,361 of the city's street crashes (64.0%), 29 of the 62 serious or fatal ones and 7 of the 11 deaths. Washington Dam Road, below the cutoff with 40 crashes, had 3 serious ones.

Washington Parkway's One Busy Junction

Washington Parkway is a small road in this data with an unusual pattern. 111 of its 158 crashes, 70.3%, were at 1100 East, none of them serious; sideswipes in the same direction were the most common type (67). Its yearly count climbed from 5 in 2018 to 42 in 2023. Its 2 fatal crashes happened elsewhere on the parkway.

Older Drivers and Midday Crashes

An older driver was involved in 527 street crashes (24.8%), against 14.9% across the seven counties, and in 16 of the 62 serious or fatal ones (25.8%), fifth-highest of the 57 cities. Crashes cluster in the middle of the day: 811 (38.1%) happened between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., also fifth-highest.

Angle crashes were the most common type (745). Motorcyclists were in 15 of the serious crashes. Snow, ice or slush was on the road in just 7 crashes, the second-lowest share of the 57. Street crashes rose from 235 in 2018 to 335 in 2024, the eighth-largest increase, and serious or fatal ones went from 4 to 10. Across the seven counties serious crashes also rose over those years, so coding may account for part of the change.

Interstate Crashes Counted Apart

I-15 recorded 729 crashes inside the city, 16 of them serious or fatal and 1 death, and the SR-9 interchange ramps 21. The Southern Parkway (SR-7), a limited-access road, had 37 crashes; they are in the street total but not ranked. Property-damage crashes below Utah's reporting threshold are not in the data, and a crash where two ranked roads meet counts on only one.

Utah Rules for a Washington City Injury Claim

Under Utah's no-fault system your own personal injury protection pays at least $3,000 in medical expenses first, whoever caused the crash (Utah Code § 31A-22-307). A claim for pain and other general damages against the at-fault driver needs an injury past the § 31A-22-309 threshold, such as a fracture, a permanent impairment or more than $3,000 in medical costs; uninsured motorist claims are not held to it, and an unidentified driver who fled is treated as uninsured (§ 31A-22-305(2)(b)). Fault is compared: your share reduces the award, and you recover only if the others' combined fault exceeds yours (§ 78B-5-818). Most injury suits must be filed within four years (§ 78B-2-307); a claim against a city or UDOT that a road was unsafe needs written notice within one year (§ 63G-7-402). Our Washington City car accident page and our post on intersection and red-light fault cover more, as do our guides to how fault is proven, PIP claims and filing deadlines.

Losses Recoverable in Washington City

• Expenses: emergency treatment, doctor visits, therapy, medication and income lost while you heal.
• Personal harm: pain, stress, and the outings, work and family time an injury takes away.
• Future needs: continuing care, reduced earning power and the repair or replacement of your vehicle.

What Washington City's Numbers Rest On

Where this comes from: UDOT's Crash_Locations feed, which runs January 1, 2018 to August 4, 2025 and stops there. Washington City's boundary is UGRC's present-day municipal line, used for every year in the period; road names come from UGRC's Utah Roads, with each crash matched within 35 meters and the reported street favored. Crashes UDOT coded Fatal or Suspected Serious Injury count as serious or fatal. The regional comparison uses non-freeway crashes across the seven counties listed earlier, and the city rankings cover the 57 cities with enough crashes to rank. Every city we have ranked this way is listed on our statewide page, Utah’s most dangerous roads.