Las Vegas Crash Statistics & Trends

Clark County posted its lowest annual traffic death total since 2021 last year, a real break from the deadliest stretch the valley has seen in more than a decade.¹ But "better" still means 239 people died on Clark County roads in 2025, and the streets doing the most damage, Sahara Avenue, Flamingo Road, Charleston Boulevard, Tropicana Avenue, are the same ones locals drive every day.¹ Here's what the data says about where crashes cluster in the Las Vegas valley, why, and what's being done about it.

The 2025 numbers, and how they compare

Nevada recorded 381 traffic deaths statewide in 2025 from 361 fatal crashes, a 9 percent drop from 420 deaths in 2024, according to the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety's year-end report.¹ Clark County accounted for 239 of those deaths, down 19 percent from 296 in 2024, which Clark County Office of Traffic Safety director Andrew Bennett called the largest one-year decrease since 2012.¹ Every category improved except one: vehicle occupant deaths dropped 29 percent to 85, pedestrian deaths fell from 97 to 83, motorcyclist deaths dropped from 62 to 58, and deaths of unbelted occupants declined nearly 6 percent to 34. Bicyclist deaths ticked up, from 11 to 12.¹

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, whose jurisdiction covers the city of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County (Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City run their own departments), counted 127 traffic deaths through much of 2025, slightly more than the 123 recorded at the same point in 2024.² Pedestrians made up the largest share, 52 of those deaths, ahead of motorcyclists and drivers.² Sheriff Kevin McMahill had set a public goal in February 2025 of holding deaths under 125 for the year on Las Vegas roadways; LVMPD says it beat that mark.²

North Las Vegas moved faster than anywhere else in the valley: fatal collisions there fell from 34 in 2024 to 19 in 2025, a 44 percent drop, and deaths fell from 35 to 21, five of them motorcyclists, five pedestrians and eleven vehicle occupants.³ The department reported zero traffic deaths through January 29, 2026.³

The valley's most dangerous intersections

LVMPD released its own ranking of the Las Vegas valley's highest-crash intersections in May 2025, based on collisions recorded from January through early May of that year. The top five:

• Rainbow Boulevard and Flamingo Road, 26 crashes
• Sahara Avenue and Eastern Avenue, 24 crashes
• Charleston Boulevard and Lamb Boulevard, 23 crashes
• Tropicana Avenue and Jones Boulevard, 22 crashes
• Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway, 20 crashes

Rounding out the top ten were Tropicana Avenue at Koval Lane, Desert Inn Road at Eastern Avenue, Eastern Avenue at Warm Springs Road, Sahara Avenue at Decatur Boulevard, and Las Vegas Boulevard at Harmon Avenue.² Lt. Anthony Cavaricci, who released the list, pointed to frequent lane changes and speed as the common thread among them.² The same corridors keep surfacing in regional planning data: the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada's own safety survey named Charleston Boulevard and Eastern Avenue among the valley's worst crash locations as it began testing fixes there.⁴

Where pedestrian risk concentrates

Las Vegas ranks 23rd among the country's 101 largest metro areas for pedestrian danger, averaging 3.1 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents from 2020 through 2024, according to Smart Growth America's Dangerous by Design rankings.⁵ Locally, that risk shows up along Boulder Highway and near the Strip. A pedestrian was killed near Sammy Davis Jr. and Resorts World drives, just south of Sahara Avenue, in the early hours of July 22, 2026, the 66th traffic death recorded in LVMPD's jurisdiction that year.⁶ A hit-and-run crash near Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard the year before had already become the department's 70th fatality of 2025 by late May.⁶

Boulder Highway has drawn its own countermeasure. After a stretch of chain-link fence in the median between Flamingo Road and Nellis Boulevard cut pedestrian deaths there from an average of five a year to zero over two years, Clark County's Department of Public Works extended the fencing along a 6,000-foot stretch between Desert Inn Road and Flamingo Road, a $504,000 project set to finish in June 2026, with a further phase planned toward Sahara Avenue.⁷ Even with the fencing in place, Boulder Highway logged nine pedestrian-involved crashes in the first part of 2026.⁷

What Vision Zero found on Las Vegas roads

The city of Las Vegas adopted a Vision Zero Action Plan aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2050.⁸ Its own review of crash data from 2018 through 2022 counted 53,596 transportation crashes citywide, 251 deaths and 750 serious injuries, with pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists making up nearly half of the people killed.⁸ The city says it has secured more than $45 million in safety funding since 2022, completed 50 of its original 97 action items, and assessed 22 schools for pedestrian safety, turning up 733 specific improvements still to make.⁸

Regionally, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is running a Safe Streets for All plan on a $1.68 million federal grant plus roughly $320,000 in local match. It's now moving into a "demonstration project" phase testing speed tables, protected bike lanes, curb extensions and roundabouts at high-crash locations across the valley before committing to permanent fixes.⁴

Road work that could change the picture

Several projects underway target the corridors above directly. NDOT's I-15/Tropicana interchange rebuild, a $382 million job that reworked the Tropicana bridge over I-15 and added an HOV half-interchange at Harmon Avenue, has been wrapping up through late 2025.⁹ Widening on I-15 south, from Sloan Road to Blue Diamond Road, is roughly half finished on an $86 million contract due by January 2026, and the I-15 north widening near Speedway Boulevard is about 90 percent complete.⁹ Henderson's $184 million Reimagine Boulder Highway project, cutting that road from six lanes to four while adding wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes on both sides and center-running bus rapid transit, is under construction now with completion expected around mid-2027. The matching 7.5-mile segment through unincorporated Clark County and Las Vegas is still in environmental review and, per RTC deputy CEO Andrew Kjellman, could not start construction before 2030.¹⁰

The law behind the numbers

Nevada's primary seat belt law, NRS 484D.495, requires drivers and passengers age 6 and older to buckle up in both front and back seats, though a violation on its own carries only a maximum $25 civil penalty and no license points.¹¹ Nevada also bars typing, reading or sending text or data on a handheld device while driving under NRS 484B.165, with penalties that climb from $50 for a first offense within seven years to $250 for a third.¹² Neither statute alone explains any specific crash, but both come up often in the incident reports behind these numbers.

If you were hurt in one of these crashes

If you were injured at any of the intersections above, or anywhere else in the valley, an attorney can help you sort out what an insurance company owes you and what the police report actually means for your claim. You can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Traffic deaths down 19 percent in Clark County as state sees lowest death toll since 2021," https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/traffic/positive-trend-2025-sees-lowest-traffic-death-count-in-nevada-since-2021-3605054/

2. KTNV, "Las Vegas police list valley's most dangerous intersections so far in 2025," https://www.ktnv.com/news/las-vegas-police-list-valleys-most-dangerous-intersections-so-far-in-2025

3. News3LV, "North Las Vegas police report a reduction in traffic fatalities in 2025," https://news3lv.com/news/local/north-las-vegas-police-report-a-reduction-in-traffic-fatalities-in-2025

4. News3LV, "RTC moves into testing phase of Safe Streets for All action plan," https://news3lv.com/news/local/rtc-moves-into-testing-phase-of-safe-streets-for-all-action-plan

5. Smart Growth America, Dangerous by Design rankings, https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/rankings/

6. News3LV, "Pedestrian dead after crash near Las Vegas Strip," https://news3lv.com/news/local/story/pedestrian-killed-crash-las-vegas-strip-resorts-world-police-investigating-dui-impairment

7. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Clark County furthering its use of chain-link fence within Boulder Highway median for pedestrian safety," https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/traffic/boulder-highway-gets-more-chain-link-fence-in-medians-to-deter-jaywalking-3822711/

8. City of Las Vegas, "Moving Toward Zero: Las Vegas Updates Its Vision Zero Action Plan," https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/moving-toward-zero-las-vegas-updates-its-vision-zero-action-plan

9. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Tired of I-15 road projects in Las Vegas? They're coming to an end," https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/road-warrior/trio-of-i-15-projects-moving-toward-completion-as-future-upgrade-looms-3306033/

10. Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Boulder Highway revamp north of Henderson may not start until 2030," https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/road-warrior/when-will-boulder-highway-work-north-of-henderson-begin-3831685/

11. Nevada Legislature, NRS 484D.495, https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-484d.html

12. Nevada Legislature, NRS 484B.165, https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-484b.html