A crash scrambles your day and, if anyone is hurt, the months that follow. The steps that actually protect your case are set by Arizona statute, not by whatever your insurer's app suggests. This guide sticks to what's specific to Arizona: the deadlines, the fault rule, the coverage numbers, and the exceptions that trip people up. For the general playbook on photographing the scene, getting checked out, and handling adjusters, use the national hub this page sits under. Everything below is Arizona.
What state law requires of you at the scene
If the crash injured or killed someone, you must give notice to law enforcement immediately, either the local police, the county sheriff, or the highway patrol.1 Every driver involved, injury or not, has to give their name, address, and vehicle registration number and show a driver license on request.2 You also have a duty to render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, which includes arranging a ride to a doctor or hospital if treatment is obviously needed or the injured person asks for it.2 These carry criminal weight. Failing to hand over your information is a class 1 misdemeanor, and failing to render aid can be charged as a class 6 felony.2
The officer who works your crash writes the report; you request a copy afterward. Arizona has no single statewide clearinghouse for them. The Department of Public Safety sells its own reports through its Public Services Portal, where an electronic copy costs $9, while many city and county agencies sell theirs separately.3 Our Arizona crash reports page covers how to find and order yours.
At-fault, with pure comparative negligence
Arizona is a tort state. There is no no-fault system and no personal injury protection (PIP) requirement, so the driver who caused the crash, through their liability insurer, is the one who pays.
The fault rule is pure comparative negligence.4 Your compensation is reduced by your own percentage of fault, but it is never cut off, so a driver found 80% responsible can still recover 20% of their damages. The one carve-out: you lose the benefit of comparative negligence if you intentionally, willfully, or wantonly caused the harm.4 Because fault directly shrinks the check, the other driver's insurer has every reason to pin as much blame on you as it can. That is where the police report and independent witnesses earn their keep.
Two years, and sometimes far less
The deadline you cannot miss is two years from the date of the crash to file suit for personal injury or wrongful death.5 The same statute covers damage to your vehicle and other property, also two years.5 Blow it and the court will not hear the case, no matter how strong it is.
One trap catches people hit by a government vehicle, a city bus or a state employee on the job. You have to serve a written notice of claim on the public entity within 180 days of the crash, and a claim filed even a day late is barred.6 The lawsuit itself then has to be filed within one year, not the usual two.7 If a government vehicle was involved, treat the clock as running in days.
The insurance numbers, and why the minimum is thin
Arizona sets minimum liability limits at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $15,000 for property damage, for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2020.8 That's written as 25/50/15. A single emergency room visit can burn through $25,000, so the at-fault driver's minimum policy often won't cover a serious injury.
That gap is what uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) is for. Arizona doesn't make you buy it, but it does make your insurer offer both in writing, at limits equal to your own bodily injury liability limits, and you can decline either one only in writing.9 If you don't remember signing a rejection, you may have more coverage than you think, so pull your declarations page. Medical payments (med-pay) coverage is a separate optional add-on; if you carry it, your insurer's reimbursement lien is capped at amounts it paid over $5,000 for crashes after December 31, 1998.9
If a drunk driver hit you
You can sue the impaired driver like any other at-fault driver, and you may also have a claim against the bar or store that over-served. Under Arizona's dram-shop statute, a licensee is liable if it sold liquor to an obviously intoxicated patron, or to someone underage, that person drank it, and the drinking was a proximate cause of the crash.10 "Obviously intoxicated" is defined narrowly, as impairment shown by significantly uncoordinated physical action that would be obvious to a reasonable person.10
This area shifted recently. In Torres v. JAI Dining Services, decided in October 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court held that A.R.S. § 4-312(B) makes the statute the only route and wipes out the older common-law dram-shop claim.1112 The practical catch is timing. A dram-shop claim is a liability created by statute, which carries a one-year deadline under A.R.S. § 12-541, half the two years you have against the drunk driver.13 If a business over-served, move fast.
Punitive damages are on the table against a drunk driver, but Arizona sets a high bar. Under Linthicum v. Nationwide Life Insurance, you need clear and convincing evidence of an "evil mind," meaning a conscious disregard of a substantial risk of harm.14 Drunk driving can meet that standard.
Arizona puts no cap on your damages
Some states cap pain-and-suffering or punitive awards. Arizona doesn't, and it can't. The state constitution flatly bars any law limiting the damages recoverable for causing death or personal injury, with one narrow 2010 exception for a person hurt while committing a felony.15 Whatever a jury finds your injuries are worth, no statute trims it.
Rules specific to Arizona roads
A few Arizona rules come up often enough to flag.
Motorcycles. Helmets are required only for riders and passengers under 18.16 Every rider, whatever their age, needs eye protection, either glasses, goggles, or a face shield, unless the bike has a windshield.16 Lane splitting between moving traffic is illegal, but since 2022 Arizona allows limited lane filtering: a two-wheeled motorcycle may move between lanes past stopped traffic on a road with at least two same-direction lanes and a speed limit of 45 mph or less, and only at 15 mph or below.17
Phones. The Hands-Free Arizona law bans holding or manually using a wireless device, texting included, while driving, and police can pull you over for it on its own.18 A first violation runs $75 to $149, and a second or later one runs $150 to $250.18
Winter driving. Arizona is not all desert. Flagstaff and the high country get real snow, and studded tires are legal only from October 1 to May 1.19 Crashes on ice and packed snow in the north are common during those months.
Your vehicle, and getting help
Even a fully repaired car is usually worth less on paper after a documented wreck, and Arizona lets you pursue that lost value from the at-fault driver. We cover how to prove and claim it on our Arizona diminished value page.
If your injuries are serious, the other driver was uninsured, or fault is being fought, talk to a lawyer well before the two-year clock, or that 180-day government deadline, runs out. You can start with our legal directory.
This is general information about Arizona law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-666 (duty to give immediate notice of accidents involving injury or death). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00666.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-663 (duty to give information and render aid). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00663.htm
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Arizona Department of Public Safety, Public Services Portal / Records Request. https://www.azdps.gov/services/public-services-portal/records-request
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 12-2505 (comparative negligence). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/02505.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 12-542 (two-year limitation for injury, wrongful death, and injury to property). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00542.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 12-821.01 (180-day notice of claim against a public entity). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00821-01.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 12-821 (one-year limitation on actions against public entities and employees). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00821.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-4009 (minimum liability limits). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/04009.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 20-259.01 (mandatory offer of UM/UIM coverage; med-pay lien). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/20/00259-01.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 4-311 (licensee liability; definition of obviously intoxicated). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/4/00311.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 4-312 (limitation on licensee liability; exclusive statutory remedy). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/4/00312.htm
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Torres v. JAI Dining Services (Phoenix), Inc., No. CV-22-0142-PR (Ariz. Oct. 16, 2023). https://law.justia.com/cases/arizona/supreme-court/2023/cv-22-0142-pr.html
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 12-541 (one-year limitation on a liability created by statute). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00541.htm
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Linthicum v. Nationwide Life Insurance Co., 150 Ariz. 326 (1986). https://law.justia.com/cases/arizona/supreme-court/1986/86-0061-2.html
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Arizona Constitution, Article 2, Section 31 (no law limiting damages for death or personal injury). https://www.azleg.gov/const/2/31.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-964 (motorcycle helmet and eye protection). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00964.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-903 (motorcycle operation; lane filtering in subsection F). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00903.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-914 (Hands-Free Arizona; portable wireless device use while driving). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00914.htm
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Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. § 28-958 (studded tire season, October 1 to May 1). https://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/00958.htm