SALT LAKE COUNTY
Hit while walking in West Valley City? Free consultation. You pay nothing up front, and no attorney fees unless we win.
UDOT's signalized-intersection safety model covers 63 traffic signals inside West Valley City. Between January 1, 2018 and August 4, 2025 those signals recorded 194 pedestrian crashes and 82 bicycle crashes. Sixteen of the pedestrian crashes and six of the bicycle crashes were fatal or caused a suspected serious injury. Forty-six of the 63 signals, close to three in four, had at least one pedestrian crash.
West Valley City holds about 5% of the signals in the statewide model but about 9% of the pedestrian crashes counted at them. The full ranking is on our page covering West Valley City's most dangerous intersections for pedestrians and cyclists.
23 pedestrian crashes and 9 bicycle crashes. No signal in Utah has more pedestrian crashes. Two state routes cross here, with roughly 585 people on foot a day and four bus stops nearby. A transit rider finishing a trip on foot is a pedestrian the moment they step off the curb.
19 pedestrian crashes and 6 bicycle crashes, second in the state. UDOT files this junction under both West Valley City and Taylorsville, which can affect which agency responded and where a notice of claim has to go. About 960 people cross here daily against roughly 43,000 vehicles.
13 pedestrian crashes, topped at only four signals anywhere in Utah. It carries the heaviest estimated foot traffic in the city, about 1,180 people a day, with four bus stops nearby.
Thirteen of the city's 63 signals sit on 3500 South. Those thirteen account for 75 of the 194 pedestrian crashes, nearly two in five, and 8 of the 16 serious or fatal ones, exactly half. If you were hit anywhere along this corridor, the pattern is documented.
Under Utah Code § 41-6a-1002 a driver must yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk on the driver's half of the road, or close enough to it to be in danger. That includes unmarked crosswalks, which exist at most intersections whether or not anyone painted lines. Drivers and insurers routinely treat "no paint" as "no crosswalk," and that is wrong.
Outside a crosswalk the duty flips: under Utah Code § 41-6a-1003 the pedestrian must yield. That does not end the claim. A driver still has to keep a proper lookout and drive at a reasonable speed, and fault in Utah is shared, not all-or-nothing.
Who pays the first medical bills
If you own a car, your own PIP pays first even though you were walking. If you do not, the PIP on the vehicle that struck you generally applies. Either way that coverage starts at $3,000 under Utah Code § 31A-22-307, and a pedestrian's injuries usually pass it immediately.
Under Utah Code § 78B-5-818 you recover only if the driver's share of fault is greater than yours, and your own share comes off the recovery. In pedestrian cases the adjuster's first move is almost always to put some of it on you: you stepped out, you wore dark clothing, you were not in the lines, you looked at your phone.
What answers that is the physical record. Signal timing data, the point of impact on the vehicle, where you came to rest, the driver's speed, and camera footage from the businesses and bus shelters along 3500 South and Redwood Road. Most of it is gone within days unless someone asks for it.
Your deadlines
FOUR years for most injury claims under Utah Code § 78B-2-307. TWO years for wrongful death. ONE year to file a notice of claim against a government entity, including UDOT, UTA, West Valley City, Taylorsville or Salt Lake County. Signal design and crossing placement claims run against a government body, so the one-year notice is the deadline that ends cases.
The core of the city's pedestrian record: nine of the ten worst signals are ordinary four-way crossings. These turn on the walk phase, the turn phase, and whether the driver was turning across the crossing on a green.
Four of the city's worst signals have four or more bus stops within reach, and 4100 South & 4000 West has five. People hit walking to or from a stop often have a UTA component to the claim, which carries its own notice deadline.
Several of the ranked signals sit near a school, including 3500 South & 4800 West, 3100 South & 3200 West and 3100 South & Constitution Boulevard. Reduced speed limits and crossing-guard schedules change what a reasonable driver should have done.
At 3500 South & 6400 West only about 163 people cross daily, the lightest foot traffic in the top ten, yet 2 of its 5 pedestrian crashes were serious or fatal, tied for the worst in the city. Fewer pedestrians and faster traffic produce rarer, graver crashes.
When the driver leaves, your own uninsured motorist coverage usually becomes the claim. Utah requires clear and convincing proof the vehicle existed where there was no contact, and your own account alone is not enough (Utah Code § 31A-22-305(6)). Report it immediately and get witness names.
A case that has to be filed goes to the Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County. If you were hurt walking in West Valley City, call (801) 921-5134 or request a free case review. No attorney fees unless we win. See also our West Valley City car accident page and West Valley City personal injury page.
This page is general information about Utah law, not legal advice about your situation. Every case turns on its own facts. Past results do not guarantee a future outcome.