Denver car accident guide and data hub

If you were just in a crash somewhere in metro Denver, this page puts the local picture in one place: how bad the numbers actually are, which roads keep showing up, who investigates what, and the Colorado rules that decide whether you can recover anything. It's built on the city, regional, and state crash data cited below, not guesswork.

The trend is going the wrong way. Denver's Vision Zero dashboard, which the city updates on weekdays, recorded 94 traffic deaths in 2025.¹ That's the highest single-year count the city has logged since at least 2013, where the dashboard's data begins.² Through the early part of 2026, Denver had already counted 36 deaths.¹

Pedestrians are getting hit hardest. Thirty-five people were killed while walking in Denver in 2025, the most in a decade, and eight people died riding stand-up electric scooters, the highest count since the city began tracking that category.³ Serious-injury crashes actually fell that year, so the rise is concentrated in the deadliest outcomes.¹

Across the wider metro, the numbers get heavier. The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) counted at least 1,564 people killed on the region's roads between 2020 and 2024, with fatalities up more than 30 percent across that span.⁴ It logged roughly 9,608 fatal or serious-injury crashes in those five years, and more than 9,500 people were seriously hurt.⁴ Statewide, the Colorado Department of Transportation reported 684 traffic deaths in 2024, down about 5 percent from 2023; passenger-vehicle occupants made up 371 of them, pedestrians 120, and motorcyclists 162, a 23 percent jump.⁵ Impaired driving was a factor in 210 of those deaths.⁵

The streets where crashes cluster

Crashes are not spread evenly across the city. Denver's Vision Zero work centers on a High Injury Network, a group of corridors that together account for about 56 percent of the city's traffic deaths, and the stated goal is to cut deaths on those streets in half.³⁶ Federal Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard and Alameda Avenue are all on that list.³ Federal, a state highway that runs as a wide city street, is repeatedly named the deadliest road in Denver.

Colfax Avenue is the other name that keeps surfacing. Along West Colfax between Broadway and Sheridan Boulevard, the city has recorded 21 traffic deaths since 2013, about half of them since 2020, and Federal north of Ellsworth Avenue has seen 18 over the same period.⁷ DRCOG's regional map flags the same corridors and adds Sheridan Boulevard.⁴

Who responds, and how to get your report

Which agency shows up depends on where you crash. The Denver Police Department works collisions on city streets, while the Colorado State Patrol handles the interstates that cut through the metro, including I-25, I-70, I-76 and I-270.⁸ That distinction matters when you go to pull your report later. DPD reports come from the department's records unit, and if a trooper worked your crash on the highway, you request the report from the Colorado State Patrol's Central Records Unit instead.⁸ You'll usually need the report number or the date and location, and reports commonly take several business days to become available.

What the city and state are doing about it

Money is moving toward the worst corridors. Through the Safer Main Streets program, CDOT and DRCOG committed about $58.9 million to 30 safety projects in the metro, including $20 million for Colfax and $7.4 million for Federal Boulevard, where the plan pays for medians and pedestrian crossings between West 23rd and West 27th avenues.⁹ After the 2025 death toll, the city moved to expand automated speed enforcement and sharply increased traffic ticketing.¹⁰

What to do after a crash in Denver

If anyone is hurt, call 911. Colorado requires you to report a crash that causes injury, death or property damage, and having police document the scene creates the record your claim will rest on later. Leaving the scene of an injury crash is itself a crime.

When it's safe, photograph the vehicles, the road, and anything off about the site like a dark or missing signal. Trade insurance and plate details with the other driver, and get contact information for any witnesses before they leave.

Be careful what you say at the scene and to the other driver's insurer. Because Colorado reduces or erases your recovery based on your share of fault, an offhand apology or a quick recorded statement can be used against you later. See a doctor even if you feel fine, because whiplash and concussions often surface a day or two after the impact, and any gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster uses to argue you weren't really hurt.

Colorado law you should know

Colorado is an at-fault (tort) state, so the driver who caused the crash, and that driver's insurer, is responsible for the damage. Every driver has to carry liability coverage of at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $15,000 for property damage under C.R.S. § 10-4-620 and § 10-4-619.¹¹ Those are minimums, and a serious injury runs past them fast, which is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is worth carrying in a state where many drivers hold only the floor. Medical payments coverage, which pays your early bills regardless of fault, is optional but useful here.

Fault gets split by percentage. Under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule, C.R.S. § 13-21-111, your recovery drops by your share of the blame, and if you're found 50 percent or more at fault you get nothing.¹² A $100,000 case where you're 20 percent responsible pays $80,000; at 50 percent, it pays zero.

The deadline is firm. Most car crash injury claims in Colorado must be filed within three years of the crash under C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I), and filing even a day late gives the court grounds to dismiss.¹³ A wrongful death claim runs on a shorter two-year clock.

If you're weighing whether to handle a claim on your own or bring in help, you can compare local options through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. City and County of Denver, Vision Zero traffic-death statistics dashboard. https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Citywide-Programs-and-Initiatives/Vision-Zero/Statistics

2. Axios Denver, "Traffic deaths surge in Denver in 2025" (Jan. 12, 2026). https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2026/01/12/traffic-deaths-denver-2025-increase

3. Denver7 (KMGH), "As Alameda debate intensifies, Denver faces pressure over traffic deaths and Vision Zero goals." https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/as-alameda-debate-intensifies-denver-faces-pressure-over-traffic-deaths-and-vision-zero-goals

4. Denver Regional Council of Governments, Regional Vision Zero. https://drcog.org/transportation-planning/planning-future/safety/regional-vision-zero

5. Colorado Department of Transportation, "State agencies announce plans to address traffic safety in 2025" (2024 year-end fatality totals). https://www.codot.gov/news/2025/january/2025-traffic-plan

6. City and County of Denver, 2022 Vision Zero Action Plan. https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/v/5/vision-zero/documents/denver-vision-zero-action-plan.pdf

7. Denver Gazette, "$15.5m West Colfax Corridor safety improvements commence." https://denvergazette.com/news/denver-west-colfax-safety-improvements/article_c23a2ed4-24f4-11ef-8f1f-dfa5b527c6a3.html

8. Colorado State Patrol, Central Records Unit (crash-report requests). https://csp.colorado.gov/talk-with-us/central-records-unit

9. Colorado Department of Transportation, "Safer Main Streets Program Announces 30 Transportation Improvements Worth Nearly $59 million in the Denver Metropolitan Area." https://www.codot.gov/news/2020/december-2020/safer-main-streets-program-announces-30-transportation-improvements-worth-nearly-59-million-in-the-denver-metropolitan-area-2014-delivering-a-key-step-in-the-state2019s-10-year-transportation-plan

10. Denverite, "Denver to launch speed cameras, review after record traffic deaths" (Mar. 5, 2026). https://denverite.com/2026/03/05/denver-speed-cameras-vision-zero-record-traffic-deaths/

11. Colorado Revised Statutes § 10-4-620 (required coverage) and § 10-4-619 (mandatory liability insurance). https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_10-4-620

12. Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-21-111 (comparative negligence; recovery barred when the claimant's fault equals or exceeds the defendant's). https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_13-21-111

13. Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-80-101(1)(n)(I) (three-year limitation for tort actions arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle). https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_13-80-101