Indianapolis car accident guide and data hub

If you were just in a crash somewhere in Marion County, the numbers say you are far from alone. Indianapolis and the county around it record more collisions and more traffic deaths than anywhere else in Indiana.¹ This page pulls together the local crash data, the streets where those crashes pile up, the road projects reshaping traffic right now, and the Indiana rules that decide what happens after the tow truck leaves.

Marion County by the numbers

Marion County sits at the top of nearly every crash list the state keeps. Analysts at the Indiana University Public Policy Institute, working with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, counted 38,255 collisions in Marion County in 2024, the most of any of Indiana's 92 counties.¹ That total included 128 fatal collisions and 6,342 crashes that injured at least one person.¹ More people were caught up in Marion County crashes, 77,469 in all, than in any other county in the state.¹ For scale, the next-busiest county, Lake, recorded 15,694 collisions, well under half of Marion's figure.¹

The death toll is the hardest number. In 2024, 131 people were killed in Marion County traffic crashes, again the highest county count in Indiana.¹ Statewide, 872 people died and roughly 44,033 were injured that year.¹ One figure does point the right way: those 872 deaths were the fewest in Indiana since 2016, down from a modern high of 990 in 2022.¹

Where crashes cluster

Crashes are not scattered evenly across the map. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO) built a High Injury Network from years of police crash records and found that the worst corridors, the top 10 percent of the region's arterial and collector streets, roughly 234 centerline miles, carry a badly lopsided share of the fatal and serious-injury crashes.² The city's Vision Zero Action Plan, adopted by the City-County Council on December 2, 2025, sharpened the point: just 5 percent of Indianapolis streets account for 43 percent of all fatal and serious crashes.³ Across 2019 to 2023, that worked out to about one fatal or serious-injury crash every five hours.⁴

Some of those corridors have names worth knowing. East Raymond Street between Shelby Street and State Street has seen repeated severe and fatal crashes in recent years, including a hit-and-run that killed a four-year-old.³ The Shelby and Raymond area and the 52nd Street crossing of the Monon Trail have both been sites of fatal crashes involving people on bikes.⁴ If your collision happened on one of these streets, you were on a stretch the city already flags as high-risk.

The northeast side carries a different hazard right now: construction. INDOT's Clear Path 465 project is rebuilding the I-465 and I-69 interchange, adding lanes and new ramps across that corner of the county.⁵ As of late 2025 the work was more than 80 percent done, with 12 of 14 new bridges and five miles of new I-465 pavement finished; mainline I-465 is set to wrap in spring 2026 and the rest of the job in late 2026.⁶ Shifting lanes and narrow shoulders change how crashes happen in a work zone, so where your wreck sat relative to the project can matter to a claim.

People on foot and on bikes

Pedestrians and cyclists absorb a share of the harm far bigger than their share of the traffic. Drivers struck and killed 243 pedestrians in Marion County between 2010 and 2021.⁷ In 2021 alone there were 259 pedestrian crashes, and 61 percent of them were fatal or left the person with incapacitating injuries.⁷ Marion County's pedestrian death rate hit 3.89 per 100,000 residents in 2020, well above Indiana's statewide rate of 1.41.⁷

Two patterns run through that data. About 84 percent of the pedestrian deaths from 2010 to 2021 happened in the dark, and around 71 percent happened somewhere other than an intersection.⁷ Speed decides much of the rest. A person hit at 20 mph has roughly a 5 percent chance of being killed; that jumps to about 45 percent at 30 mph and 85 percent at 40 mph.⁷ That relationship is why the Vision Zero plan leans on lower speed limits and redesigned streets to reach its target of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2035.⁸

What to do after a crash here

Indiana law is direct about the moments right after a collision. Any driver involved must stop at once, give their name, address, and vehicle registration, show a license, and give reasonable help to anyone who is hurt.⁹ Leaving the scene of a crash that injures or kills someone is a felony under that same statute.⁹

Then get the report. Indianapolis crashes are generally worked by IMPD officers, and the finished report reaches the state's system a week or so later. The Indiana State Police release crash reports through the BuyCrash portal for a small fee, usually within about seven to ten business days.¹⁰ Marion County residents can also request a report through the city of Indianapolis.¹¹ That report carries the officer's diagram, the drivers and their insurers, and any citations, and it is the backbone of any claim you file.

Indiana rules that shape your claim

Three state rules do most of the work in a car-crash claim.

The deadline is strict. You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal-injury lawsuit in Indiana.¹² Let that window close and a court can dismiss an otherwise strong case.

Fault is shared by percentage. Indiana uses modified comparative fault, so your recovery is cut by your share of the blame, and if you are found 51 percent or more at fault, you collect nothing.¹³ That is why insurers fight so hard over who did what.

The insurance floor is low. Every Indiana driver must carry at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $25,000 in property damage.¹⁴ Those minimums run out fast in a serious wreck, which is a strong reason to carry your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

If you are deciding whether to handle a claim on your own or bring in help, you can weigh your options and find a local attorney through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

The data here is local, and so are the people working on it. The counts come from ICJI and the IU Public Policy Institute. The IMPO maps the highest-risk corridors, INDOT is rebuilding the interchanges that funnel traffic across the county, and the Vision Zero task force and IMPD are the ones chasing the 2035 target. Knowing where your crash fits in that picture is the first practical step.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and Indiana University Public Policy Institute, "Indiana Crash Facts 2024." https://www.in.gov/cji/research/files/IndianaCrashFacts2024-with-accessibility.pdf

2. Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, "Crash Dashboards." https://indympo.gov/regional-insights/crash/

3. Mirror Indy, "Indianapolis councilors adopt Vision Zero action plan." https://mirrorindy.org/vision-zero-indianapolis-action-plan-adopted/

4. WRTV Indianapolis, "Vision Zero task force approves plan that aims to end all road deaths by 2035." https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/indianapolis-releases-vision-zero-plan-aiming-to-end-all-road-deaths-by-2035

5. Indiana Department of Transportation, "Clear Path 465 (Interstate 465 and 69 Northeast)." https://www.in.gov/indot/about-indot/central-office/welcome-to-the-greenfield-district/clear-path-465-interstate-465-and-69-northeast/

6. Clear Path 465, "Clear Path 465 project update." https://clearpath465.com/clear-path-465-project-update/

7. Health by Design, "Marion County Pedestrian Crash Data Report, 2022." https://healthbydesignonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Marion-County-Pedestrian-Crash-Data-Report.pdf

8. City of Indianapolis, "Vision Zero." https://www.indy.gov/topic/vision-zero

9. Indiana Code § 9-26-1-1.1, Duties of driver of motor vehicle involved in accident. https://iga.in.gov/laws/2024/ic/titles/9#9-26-1-1.1

10. Indiana State Police / BuyCrash crash report portal. https://www.buycrash.com/

11. City of Indianapolis, "Request an Accident Report." https://www.indy.gov/activity/request-an-accident-report

12. Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4, Injury or forfeiture of penalty actions. https://iga.in.gov/laws/2024/ic/titles/34#34-11-2-4

13. Indiana Code § 34-51-2-6, Comparative fault; recovery barred at 51 percent. https://iga.in.gov/laws/2024/ic/titles/34#34-51-2-6

14. Indiana Code § 9-25-4-5, Minimum amounts of financial responsibility. https://iga.in.gov/laws/2024/ic/titles/9#9-25-4-5