Crash statistics and trends in metro Detroit

Detroit drivers don't need a spreadsheet to know which roads feel dangerous. Gratiot Avenue, the Southfield Freeway, the interchange where 11 Mile meets Van Dyke in Warren: these come up again and again in police reports, and now they show up in the state's own crash data too. Here's what the numbers say about crashes across the Detroit media market, and what local agencies are doing about it.

How many crashes happen here

Michigan publishes crash data through a tool called Michigan Traffic Crash Facts, maintained by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute with the state's Office of Highway Safety Planning and NHTSA.¹ Statewide in 2024, that data shows 288,880 traffic crashes, 1,099 fatalities, and 71,316 injuries, all slightly higher than 2023.² Bicyclist crashes rose 20 percent to 1,773, and bicyclist deaths climbed 21 percent to 29.² Fridays produced more crashes than any other day (48,770), and the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. window was the single most dangerous stretch of the clock, with 65,506 crashes recorded statewide.²

Detroit itself accounted for 24,321 crashes in 2024, with 104 deaths and 8,872 injuries, a rate of 376 crashes per 10,000 residents that ranked the city 15th among Michigan's most crash-prone cities and townships.³ Two other Wayne County communities landed in that same top 20: Romulus, with 1,178 crashes and 6 deaths against a population of just 24,652, and Plymouth Township, with 987 crashes and 5 deaths.³

Zoom out to the seven-county region SEMCOG tracks and the trend gets worse before it gets better. Southeast Michigan recorded 402 traffic deaths in 2024, 14 more than 2023 and the fifth-highest total of the past decade, with motorcyclist deaths jumping 25 percent to 71, the worst year for riders since 2015.⁴ SEMCOG's executive director, Amy O'Leary, called the region's drop in speeding-related deaths "a meaningful win for safety," even as the overall fatality count moved up.⁴

The roads that keep showing up

Michigan State Police crash data from 2024 puts several metro Detroit intersections among the state's most crash-prone. In Detroit proper, Joy Road at the Southfield Freeway (M-39) logged 78 crashes and 27 injuries, the worst intersection inside city limits. Just outside Detroit, Schoolcraft Road at Telegraph Road in Redford Township saw 137 crashes and 26 injuries, Middlebelt Road at Schoolcraft Road in Livonia had 95 crashes and 14 injuries, and Warren's interchange at 11 Mile Road, I-696, and Van Dyke Avenue topped the entire state with 185 crashes and 26 injuries.⁵

Older federal fatality data adds texture on specific corridors. An analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash records from 2017 through 2019 found Gratiot Avenue between East Grand Boulevard and 7 Mile Road tied to 11 fatal crashes, and identified 7 Mile Road between Telegraph Road and the John C. Lodge Freeway as the deadliest stretch in the city, with 16 fatal crashes over that period. The same analysis found Detroit fatal crashes involved drunken driving 35 percent of the time, above the statewide average of 30 percent.⁶

Gratiot Avenue hasn't cooled off since. Detroit police responded to three fatal crashes in a single week on the city's east side in September 2025, two of them on Gratiot, including one where a speeding SUV struck a restaurant while customers were inside. "It is a very hot spot in the City of Detroit for accidents," DPD Captain Sederick Dunbar told local reporters, adding that officers were also watching Greenfield Road, Grand River Avenue, 7 Mile, and 6 Mile for the same pattern.⁷

Speeding, impaired driving, and lane departures

SEMCOG's 2024 analysis found that lane departures, drivers drifting out of their marked lane, factored into 39 percent of the region's fatal crashes and 26 percent of serious-injury crashes, more than any other single cause, and that speeding was a factor in 54 regional deaths.⁴ Statewide, speed-involved crashes climbed to 22,260 in 2024, up 4.2 percent from 21,357 the year before, which is why Michigan State Police and local departments run coordinated speed patrols every July.⁸ Impaired-driving crashes, at least, fell to a 10-year regional low of 3,918 in 2024.⁴

Pedestrians and cyclists

The region's pedestrian numbers improved in 2024: 1,180 pedestrian crashes, down from 1,216, and 78 pedestrian deaths, down from 97 and the second-lowest total of the past decade. Bicyclist crashes kept climbing for a third straight year to 875, even as bicyclist deaths fell to seven, the lowest since 2021.⁴ Smart Growth America's 2026 Dangerous by Design rankings put the Detroit metro area 54th out of the 101 largest U.S. metros for pedestrian danger, with an average of 1.95 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents a year and 426 pedestrian deaths counted between 2020 and 2024.⁹

What's changing on the ground

Two long-running infrastructure projects target crash-prone corridors directly. The Michigan Department of Transportation is converting the sunken I-375 freeway between Jefferson Avenue and I-75 into a street-level boulevard, with heavy construction running 2026 through 2028 and roughly $300 million in combined federal and state funding behind it.¹⁰ Further north, MDOT's Woodward Avenue (M-1) corridor work near I-696 and 8 Mile addressed a specific safety problem: drivers turning right onto Woodward had been pulling onto the sidewalk just to see oncoming traffic.¹¹

On the enforcement side, Detroit police opened 2025 with a recurring "traffic blitz" on the west side, targeting West 7 Mile, McNichols, Wyoming, and Schaefer after the 12th Precinct logged about 1,900 crashes in a single year.¹² That effort expanded east to Gratiot Avenue by that fall.⁷

If you're in a crash

Michigan requires a police-filed UD-10 crash report whenever a crash causes an injury, a death, or at least $1,000 in property damage.¹³ That report becomes the paper trail insurers and courts rely on, so get a copy before you talk to any insurance adjuster. If you're hurt and need help sorting out fault or a claim, the legal directory lists attorneys who work Michigan crash cases.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Michigan Traffic Crash Facts (Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and NHTSA). https://www.michigantrafficcrashfacts.org/

2. Michigan State Police, "Traffic crashes and fatalities in Michigan rose slightly in 2024," michigan.gov Newsroom, August 26, 2025. https://www.michigan.gov/mspnewsroom/news-releases/2025/08/26/traffic-crashes-and-fatalities-in-michigan-rose-slightly-in-2024

3. WDIV ClickOnDetroit, "The 20 most dangerous cities, townships for car crashes in Michigan," May 8, 2026 (citing Michigan Traffic Crash Facts and U.S. Census data). https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2026/05/08/the-20-most-dangerous-cities-townships-for-car-crashes-in-michigan/

4. Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, "Traffic Crashes in Southeast Michigan, 2024." https://www.semcog.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TrafficQuickFacts2024.pdf

5. Fox 2 Detroit, "MAP: Michigan's most dangerous intersections based on crash data" (citing Michigan State Police 2024 data). https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/map-michigans-most-dangerous-intersections-based-crash-data

6. Patch, "Michigan's 10 Deadliest Roads Report Breaks Down MI Crash Data" (MoneyGeek analysis of NHTSA fatal crash data, 2017-2019). https://patch.com/michigan/detroit/michigans-10-deadliest-roads-report-breaks-down-mi-crash-data

7. WDIV ClickOnDetroit, "Detroit steps up enforcement on Gratiot Avenue amid deadly crashes, speeding concerns," September 9, 2025. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/09/09/detroit-steps-up-enforcement-on-gratiot-avenue-amid-deadly-crashes-speeding-concerns/

8. Michigan State Police, "Police agencies across Michigan stepping up speed enforcement throughout July," michigan.gov Newsroom, June 30, 2026. https://www.michigan.gov/mspnewsroom/news-releases/2026/06/30/police-agencies-across-michigan-stepping-up-speed-enforcement-throughout-july

9. Smart Growth America, "Dangerous by Design 2026: State and Metro Rankings." https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/2026-dbd-rankings/

10. Michigan Department of Transportation, "I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project." https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/special-construction/i-375-reconnecting-communities-project

11. Michigan Department of Transportation, "M-1 (Woodward Avenue) Corridor Plan." https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/studies/additional-studies/m-1-corridor-plan

12. WDIV ClickOnDetroit, "Detroit police launch traffic enforcement initiative on city's west side amid concerns," January 30, 2025. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/01/30/detroit-police-launch-traffic-enforcement-initiative-on-citys-west-side-amid-concerns/

13. Michigan State Police, UD-10 Traffic Crash Reporting. https://www.michigan.gov/msp/divisions/cjic/traffic-crash-reporting-unit