California Crash Hot Spots: The Most Dangerous Roads and Intersections

Where California Traffic Deaths Happen

NHTSA counted 3,876 traffic deaths in California in 2024, and its early estimate for 2025 is 3,630, a drop of 6.3%. Caltrans, using its own state highway data, counted 1,467 people killed on state highways and freeways in 2024, 882 of them in freeway crashes. That leaves most deaths on city streets and county roads, the places people walk, bike and wait for the bus. More than one in four people killed in 2024 were pedestrians.

On the state highway system, Caltrans District 7, which covers Los Angeles and Ventura counties, logged 248 deaths in 2024, the most of any district. The state’s 2025 to 2029 Strategic Highway Safety Plan puts pedestrians, bicyclists, impaired driving, intersections, lane departures and speed management at the top of its list.

California Intersections With a Long Crash Record

Every spot below is a city intersection, not a freeway, and half of them are in Los Angeles. Here’s what makes each one tricky, with published figures wherever they exist.

1. Reseda Boulevard at Devonshire Street: Northridge

Reseda Boulevard is one of the main north-south roads through the west San Fernando Valley, and Devonshire Street carries fast east-west traffic across northern Northridge. Both are wide, multi-lane streets with long signal cycles, and that combination tempts drivers to beat the light. For anyone on foot it’s a long walk across.

Cal State Northridge sits a short drive south along Reseda, and student traffic adds to the load at rush hour. Nordhoff Street at Balboa Boulevard, east of the campus, has the same wide-arterial layout and the same habit of fast turns through the crosswalk.

2. Sepulveda Boulevard at Sherman Way: Van Nuys

Sepulveda runs roughly parallel to the 405 through the Valley, so it fills up with drivers dodging freeway traffic, plus buses, delivery trucks and shoppers. Sherman Way is one of the Valley’s main east-west streets, and rear-end and turning crashes are the usual story where the two meet.

Sepulveda’s trouble runs the length of the corridor. Crosstown’s analysis of LAPD data found 65 serious collisions at Sepulveda and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City, a short drive north, from February 2021 to February 2025. It sits near a 405 off-ramp, and one of those crashes was a hit-and-run that killed a 38-year-old man on a bike.

3. Florence Avenue at Vermont Avenue and Figueroa Street: South Los Angeles

Florence Avenue crosses two of South L.A.’s busiest streets about half a mile apart. Vermont is one of Metro’s heaviest bus corridors, and Figueroa runs beside the Harbor Freeway (I-110), so freeway traffic spills onto Florence near the ramps. Left-turn and broadside crashes are common at both, and people on foot get a short window to cross wide streets.

Less than a mile north on Figueroa, the same Crosstown analysis ranked Figueroa and Slauson Avenue the most dangerous intersection in the city, with 66 serious collisions from February 2021 to February 2025, including 17 felony hit-and-runs.

4. 1st Street and Grand Avenue: Downtown Los Angeles

This corner sits at Walt Disney Concert Hall, with The Broad a block south and the Music Center across the street. Concert crowds, tour buses and turning drivers all share it, and drivers turning across busy crosswalks are the main danger.

Our Los Angeles car accident guide covers the city’s other high crash corridors and how to get an LAPD report.

5. Market Street at 5th Street: Downtown San Francisco

Fifth and Market is one of the busiest pedestrian corners in the city, steps from the Powell Street BART station and the cable car turnaround. Private cars have been banned from Market east of 10th Street since early 2020, but buses, streetcars, taxis, Waymo robotaxis (allowed back in 2025) and cross traffic on Fifth keep it crowded. Drivers turning off Fifth into packed crosswalks are the main hazard.

San Francisco’s newest High Injury Network shows that 13% of city streets account for 74% of serious traffic injuries and deaths, based on 2020 to 2024 data. The city did make progress: SFMTA counted 25 traffic deaths in 2025, down from 43 in 2024.

6. 14th Street and Broadway: Downtown Oakland

This is the center of downtown Oakland, beside Frank Ogawa Plaza and City Hall, with an entrance to the 12th Street BART station right at the corner. Buses, bikes, people on foot and drivers all converge here, and red-light running and turning crashes are common.

The city says the downtown stretch of 14th Street is one of Oakland’s densest concentrations of traffic injuries. Crashes there injured 189 people, 38 of them severely, from 2016 to 2021, and the city notes two people killed by drivers in 14th Street crosswalks, plus a bike rider killed in a 2022 hit-and-run at Jefferson Street. A safety project with a raised bike lane, wider sidewalks and new lighting is expected to wrap up in January 2027.

7. El Camino Real (SR 82) at Ravenswood Avenue: Menlo Park

El Camino Real is the old main road down the Peninsula, and in Menlo Park it’s a state highway lined with driveways, shops and offices. Ravenswood Avenue crosses it a short walk from the Menlo Park Caltrain station, so commuters on foot and on bikes cross a road full of turning cars.

Menlo Park picked this crossing as the first to rebuild under its El Camino Real Crossings project, which focuses on people walking and biking across the highway. The city reported the work substantially complete in December 2025, with final work expected in spring 2026.

8. San Pablo Avenue (SR 123) at Ashby Avenue (SR 13): Berkeley

Two state routes meet here in West Berkeley. San Pablo carries AC Transit buses and heavy local traffic, and Ashby leads to the I-80 interchange. Sideswipes and pedestrian crashes are common here.

Alameda CTC calls San Pablo Avenue a high injury route with the third-highest number of collisions in Alameda County. Its safety project, covering about three miles from Oregon Street to the Albany line, is scheduled for construction from spring 2027.

More High-Crash Locations Across California

Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento have all published their own crash data. These are the locations with specific figures.

Some of these roads are getting work. The state named Avalon Boulevard one of its first State Priority Safety Corridors in October 2025 and put $7 million toward resurfacing, signal upgrades, curb extensions and bus, pedestrian and bike improvements, with completion expected around spring 2028. San Diego’s traffic engineers review each year’s high crash locations and propose fixes for each one, and anything left unfunded goes into the next budget cycle.

How to Stay Safe on California’s Most Dangerous Roads

You don’t have to avoid these roads, just drive them knowing where the trouble is.

For Drivers:

1. Ease off on wide arterials: Speed management is one of the state safety plan’s top priorities. Streets like Sepulveda, Reseda and Florin Road feel like highways but are full of crosswalks and driveways.
2. Take turns slowly: Left turns across traffic and right turns into crosswalks cause many of the crashes at places like Florence and Vermont or Fifth and Market. Look for people on foot before you go.
3. Watch the ramps: Where surface streets meet freeways, like Figueroa at the 110 or Ashby at I-80, traffic speeds up and slows down fast. Leave room.
4. Put the phone away downtown: In downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, one glance down is enough to miss a pedestrian stepping off the curb.
5. Plan for a sober ride: Impaired driving is one of the state safety plan’s top priorities. If you’ve been drinking, don’t drive.
6. Slow down in work zones: Caltrans crews work on I-5, I-405, SR 91 and the rest of the system year-round. Merge early and watch for stopped traffic.

For Pedestrians:

1. Cross at signals: On wide streets like Avalon Boulevard or El Camino Real, crossing mid-block leaves drivers almost no time to react.
2. Make eye contact: Don’t assume a turning driver has seen you. Wait until the car stops.
3. Be visible at night: Wear something bright or carry a light, especially on poorly lit stretches of arterials.

For Cyclists:

1. Use protected lanes where they exist: Parts of Reseda Boulevard have them, and downtown Oakland’s 14th Street is getting a raised bike lane.
2. Light up: Run front and rear lights, even at dusk.
3. Watch for right hooks: Drivers turning right often don’t check the bike lane. Never assume they’ll yield.

General Tips:

1. Know your route: If your commute includes Sepulveda, San Pablo or the 91, give yourself extra time and drive defensively.
2. Check traffic before you leave: Caltrans QuickMap or a navigation app shows crashes, closures and construction in real time.
3. Watch the first rain: Roads get slick when the first storms of the season lift oil off the pavement.

What to Do If You’re Injured in a California Car Accident

A bad crash on Sepulveda, the 91 or a downtown street can leave you hurt and unsure what to do first. What you do in the first hours and days matters, for your health and for your wallet.

1. Call 911. Even if nobody seems badly hurt, get police to the scene. They’ll write the official crash report, which is what insurers go by. If anyone is seriously injured, ask for an ambulance.
2. Get checked out. Concussions and internal injuries don’t always show up right away. Go to the ER or urgent care, and follow up with your own doctor in the days after.
3. Document the scene if you can. If it’s safe, photograph the vehicles, damage, license plates, signals and road conditions. Get witnesses’ names and phone numbers, and swap insurance information with the other driver without admitting fault.
4. Be careful with adjusters. The other driver’s insurer may call soon after the crash. You can politely decline a recorded statement until you have your crash report and understand your options.
5. Keep everything. Medical records, bills, repair estimates, missed work, and every letter or email from an insurer.

Where you crashed decides who has your report. In most of the state, the California Highway Patrol handles crashes on freeways and state highways, and it covers every road in unincorporated county areas. City police handle city streets, and in cities that contract with the county sheriff, deputies take the report. Our California crash report guide explains how to request a copy.

Don’t know which agency responded, or would rather skip the paperwork? We can get a copy of your report for you at no cost.

California Crash Hot Spot Questions

More California Crash Guides

City crash guides: Los Angeles, CA · San Diego, CA · San Jose, CA · San Francisco, CA · Fresno, CA · Sacramento, CA · Long Beach, CA · Oakland, CA · Bakersfield, CA · Anaheim, CA · Riverside, CA · Stockton, CA · Santa Rosa, CA · Modesto, CA · Oxnard, CA · San Bernardino, CA · Salinas, CA · Visalia, CA · Chico, CA · Redding, CA

County accident news: Los Angeles County · San Diego County · Sacramento County · Riverside County · Orange County · San Bernardino County · Fresno County · Alameda County

Nearby states: Oregon crash hot spots · Nevada crash hot spots · Arizona crash hot spots

For the latest, crashes from around the state are posted in California accident news and our recent accident alerts.