Atlanta Crash Statistics and Trends

Metro Atlanta's crash numbers moved in the right direction in 2023, the most recent year with full county-level detail from the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). Traffic deaths in the 11-county Atlanta region fell to 523, down 16% from 622 the year before.¹ That's real progress, but it follows a run-up: the Atlanta Regional Commission's own 2023 safety strategy put the region's average toll at roughly 600 deaths and more than 3,000 serious injuries a year, a total that had climbed for eight straight years before that.² Statewide, Georgia recorded 1,615 traffic deaths in 2023 and 373,135 police-reported crashes, and NHTSA's early estimate for 2025 puts the state at 1,307 deaths, down 6.8% from 1,403 in 2024.^{1 3}

The five-county picture looks worse than the state trend

Zoom into just the five core counties, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett, and a December 2025 report from the nonprofit Propel ATL found 425 people killed on area roads in 2024, more than the 410 people killed in homicides across the same counties.⁴ DeKalb County had the highest death toll at 121.⁴ Pedestrian and cyclist deaths rose about 4% over 2023, and 61% of the region's traffic deaths happened in majority-Black neighborhoods.⁴ The report singled out Peachtree Street between Baker and Ellis streets in downtown Atlanta as a repeat site of fatal pedestrian crashes in 2025.⁴

That stretch got national attention in February 2025 when Pradeep Sood, 67, was struck and killed by a truck while crossing near the Peachtree Street MARTA station, in a crosswalk the city had deactivated back in 2023.⁵ The Atlanta Department of Transportation removed the faded crosswalk markings afterward and folded the corner into a larger repaving and safety redesign, with public input sessions planned for spring 2025.⁵

Atlanta's Vision Zero numbers

The City of Atlanta passed its Vision Zero ordinance, 20-O-1239, in April 2020, setting a citywide default speed limit of 25 mph and a goal of zero traffic deaths by 2040.⁶ ATLDOT's own High-Injury Network analysis found that less than 10% of the city's surface streets account for 73% of all fatal and serious-injury crashes.⁶ City fatalities peaked at 100 in 2021 and have fallen 23% since, though a single year or two of decline doesn't erase a decade of higher numbers.⁶

Where the crashes cluster

ARC's regional strategy targets the same three problems that drive most of the area's fatal crashes: collisions at intersections, vehicles leaving the roadway, and crashes involving people on foot or on a bike.² A quarter of Georgia's fatal crashes happen at or near an intersection, and 45% start when a vehicle leaves its lane entirely, crossing a center or edge line.¹ GDOT ranks specific road segments using a metric called ePDO (equivalent property-damage-only), which weights fatal and severe-injury crashes far more heavily than fender-benders. By that measure, Covington Highway in DeKalb County tops the list, followed by Old National Highway, Moreland Avenue, Northside Parkway NW, and Candler Road.⁷ By raw crash count over recent years, Northside Parkway NW logged 2,610 crashes, the Alpharetta Highway/Peachtree Street corridor 2,360, Covington Highway 2,232, Moreland Avenue 2,110, and Candler Road 2,096.⁷

At the intersection level, GDOT's 2022 crash count put Covington Highway and Panola Road in DeKalb County at the top with 207 crashes, ahead of Covington Highway and South Hairston Road (154), North Hairston Road and Memorial Drive (140), and two Clayton County intersections: Godby Road and Old National Highway (138) and Tara Boulevard and Veterans Memorial Parkway (135).⁸

I-285 keeps adding to its reputation as one of the region's worst stretches. On November 20, 2025, a head-on crash on I-285 eastbound at the Buford Highway interchange in DeKalb County killed two people, one of them trapped in a car that caught fire on impact.⁹

Pedestrians carry a disproportionate share of the risk

Non-motorists make up less than 1% of people involved in Georgia crashes but 21% of the state's traffic deaths.¹⁰ Pedestrian deaths statewide climbed 90% between 2014 and 2023, from 163 to 310, far outpacing the 39% rise in total traffic deaths over the same stretch.¹⁰ Most of that risk concentrates after dark: pedestrian deaths in low-light conditions more than doubled over the decade, and 83% of 2023's pedestrian deaths happened in the dark.¹⁰

The Atlanta region, home to 46% of Georgia's population, absorbed 58% of the state's pedestrian crashes and 48% of pedestrian deaths in 2023, at a crash rate of 32.22 per 100,000 people against a statewide rate of 25.51.¹⁰ DeKalb County alone recorded 55 pedestrian deaths that year, more than any other county in Georgia, followed by Fulton (32) and Cobb (18).¹⁰ Within the region, the City of Atlanta logged 364 pedestrian serious injuries and deaths between 2021 and 2023, the highest total of any place in the state and double the region's own average rate.¹⁰

Bicyclists face a smaller but real share of that risk too. Georgia averaged 24 bicyclist deaths a year between 2019 and 2023, and 60% of bicyclist crashes happen at intersections rather than midblock.¹⁰

Speed decides who walks away. In 2023, 14% of Georgia pedestrian crashes on roads posted at 40 mph ended in a fatality; that share rises to 19% at 50 mph, 31% at 55 mph, and 42% at 60 mph or higher.¹⁰ Three-quarters of the state's 2023 pedestrian deaths happened on roads posted 45 mph or above.¹⁰

What's behind the crashes

GOHS found a confirmed or suspected distracted driver in 55% of all Georgia crashes in 2023, and a speeding driver in 18% of fatal ones; 27% of the state's traffic deaths involved alcohol.¹ Georgia's Hands-Free Georgia Act, O.C.G.A. §40-6-241, bars drivers from physically holding a phone while driving. A first offense costs $50 and a license point, rising to $150 and three points by a third violation.¹¹

After a crash

If you've been hurt in one of these crashes, the police report, the intersection's crash history, and the posted speed limit can all matter later on. An attorney who works these roads regularly can help you sort out what happened and what it's worth; you can find one through the legal directory.

This article is for general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety, "Georgia Traffic Safety Facts 2023 Data: Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2023" (October 2025): https://www.gahighwaysafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2023-Overview-of-Motor-Vehicle-Crashes.pdf

2. Atlanta Regional Commission, "ARC Adopts Regional Safety Strategy to Reduce Deaths and Severe Injuries on Metro Atlanta Roads" (March 8, 2023): https://atlantaregional.org/news/press-releases/arc-adopts-regional-safety-strategy-to-reduce-deaths-and-severe-injuries-on-metro-atlanta-roads/

3. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Traffic Deaths 2025 Early Estimates, 2024 Annual": https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/traffic-deaths-2025-early-estimates-2024-annual

4. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Traffic fatalities outpace homicides in metro Atlanta" (December 2025): https://www.ajc.com/news/2025/12/report-traffic-fatalities-outpace-homicides-in-metro-atlanta/

5. Atlanta News First, "City of Atlanta to remove faded crosswalk on Peachtree Street after traffic death" (February 28, 2025): https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/02/28/city-atlanta-remove-faded-crosswalk-peachtree-street-after-traffic-death/

6. Atlanta Department of Transportation, "Vision Zero": https://atldot.atlantaga.gov/programs/vision-zero

7. WSB-TV, "What are the most dangerous roads in metro Atlanta? Here's what crash data shows": https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/what-are-most-dangerous-roads-metro-atlanta-heres-what-data-shows/4N43TSZD3FDFTDZ4M52KYUPMKY/

8. WSB-TV, "Which metro Atlanta intersections had the most crashes last year? Here's what the data shows": https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/clayton-county/atlanta-area-intersection-site-more-than-200-crashes/RPWQ4LINXBBRNPEP3CJ4WUUYKM/

9. Atlanta News First, "2 killed in fiery crash on I-285 in DeKalb County, officials say" (November 20, 2025): https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/11/20/2-killed-fiery-crash-i-285-dekalb-county-officials-say/

10. Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety, "Georgia Traffic Safety Facts 2023 Data: Pedestrians and Bicyclists (Non-Motorists)" (April 2025): https://www.gahighwaysafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2023-Non-Motorist-Pedestrian-and-Bicyclist-Georgia-Traffic-Safety-Facts.v2.pdf

11. Georgia Code Section 40-6-241, Justia U.S. Law: https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-40/chapter-6/article-11/section-40-6-241/