Sample Intersection Safety Analysis

Thomas Road at 67th Ave, Phoenix, Arizona

Hypothetical 2025 Head-On, East-West Collision

Executive Summary

A hypothetical 2025 crash occurred on Thomas Road at or near 67th Avenue in Phoenix. Plaintiff’s vehicle was traveling eastbound when it was struck head-on by a westbound vehicle that drifted out of the middle turning lane.

Using ten years of Arizona crash data, the data identical to what Arizona municipalities have access to, this analysis evaluates whether prior crash history at the same location could support a claim that the intersection or road segment had a known and recurring safety problem.

Key Findings

Highly similar crashes have occurred at the same location 18 times in the previous ten years, which is significantly higher than at similar intersections. This history suggests that the crash was not an isolated or unpredictable event. Instead, the data indicates a recurring pattern of crashes at or near the same intersection/road segment involving similar roadway conflict conditions.

Prior Similar Crash History & Frequency

Over the ten-year lookback period, the Thomas Road and 67th Avenue location experienced head-on east-west crashes at the following rates. The consistency of crashes across the full ten-year period supports an argument that the location had a persistent safety issue. The crash history shows that a similar crash occurred at this location approximately once every 200 days, suggesting the risk was recurring enough to be detected through routine traffic safety review, collision monitoring, or complaint-driven investigation.

Comparison to Phoenix Intersections Citywide

Compared with similar two-arterial intersections citywide, this location experienced a substantially elevated rate of similar, east-west head-on collisions. In practical terms, this means the location performed worse than approximately 80% of Similar Arterial-Arterial Phoenix intersections for this type of crash pattern.

Injury Risk Compared with Citywide Similar Crashes, Citywide

Similar crashes at this location were also more likely to result in injury than comparable crashes citywide. This suggests that the location was not only crash-prone, but also unusually dangerous when crashes occurred.

Head-On and Opposing-Direction Crash Pattern

Because the hypothetical incident involved an eastbound vehicle struck by a westbound vehicle, the most relevant subset is crashes involving opposing-direction or lane-departure dynamics. This intersection's unusually high tier, citywide, for both opposite-direction crashes and lane-departure crashes indicates that roadway design, traffic control, lane markings, access management, median protection, and/or signal operations contributed to repeated conflicts. The ten-year crash history showed recurring indicators consistent with opposing-direction conflicts, and the ranking of Thomas & 67th Ave in each category, for similar two-arterial intersections, including

Speeding and Distracted Driving History

The crash data also reflects recurring behavioral risk factors at the location. The presence of repeated speed-related and distraction-related crashes may support the argument that the City knew or should have known that ordinary driver error was producing recurring harm at this location. The data may support an argument that roadway design or traffic control failed to safely account for foreseeable driver behavior.

Hit-and-Run History

The location also showed a recurring hit-and-run pattern happening at higher rates than at similar arterial-arterial intersections, citywide. A higher hit-and-run rate may indicate recurring nighttime crashes, pedestrian exposure, high-speed conditions, poor visibility, or lack of traffic calming.

Lighting and Time-of-Day Patterns

Crashes were not evenly distributed across all conditions. The concentration during afternoon/evening periods suggests that traffic volume, turning conflicts, glare, lighting, or congestion may be relevant to the location’s crash history. That dark/lighted crashes are 15% more frequent here than in the city at large, this indicates that lighting was a possible intervention not fully pursued by the city in their response efforts.

Conclusion

The ten-year crash history at Thomas Road and 67th Avenue shows a recurring and measurable pattern of similar crashes before the hypothetical 2025 head-on collision.

With 18 similar prior crashes, an average of 1.8 similar crashes per year, and a crash frequency more than 13 times higher than the average Phoenix intersection, the data supports the position that this location had a known and persistent safety problem.

The data further suggests that crashes at this location were more likely to result in injury than similar crashes citywide. The recurring presence of speed, distraction, improper movement, hit-and-run, and opposing-direction conflict indicators strengthens the argument that the risk was foreseeable and that reasonable safety interventions should have been considered before the plaintiff’s crash.

This intersection would be a strong candidate for further municipal liability investigation, expert traffic engineering review, and targeted discovery into the City’s knowledge of prior crashes and roadway safety concerns.

Visualizations

Intersection Risk Statistics

My report will include visualizations for any risk statistics relevant to the analysis.
Here are some examples for Thomas Rd & 67th Avenue: