Denver Metro Crash Analysis · 300K+ CDOT Records · 2022–2024

Crashes, Corridors & Dangerous Crossings

Where, when, and why traffic crashes happen across Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, and Thornton — built from CDOT statewide crash listings, AADT traffic volumes, and Denver Open Data.

56,697
Reported crashes (metro, 2024)
293
Traffic fatalities (metro, 2024)
1,248
Pedestrian crashes (metro, 2024)
25.6%
Hit-and-run rate (metro, 2024)
01 — Crash Map

Where It Happens

Search an address, filter by crash type, compare years, or enter your commute to see every crash hotspot along your route.

Denver Metro Crash Map
65 intersections · 6 cities · CDOT + Denver Open Data 2022–2024
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Interstate
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02 — Dangerous Intersections

The Top 10 Crash Sites

Freeway interchanges and high-volume arterials dominate. Use the Metro dropdown on the map to switch between cities. Toggle "Per Vehicle" to see which intersections are most dangerous relative to how much traffic they carry.

Top 10 Crash Intersections — All Metro
Denver PD / CDOT · AADT from CDOT Highways in Colorado dataset
Rank by
Crash Types
By collision type · Denver · CDOT 2024
Contributing Factors
Top causes · Denver · CDOT 2024
03 — When It Happens

The Calendar of Risk

Crash patterns shift by season, day, and hour. Late summer through October sees the highest volume, midweek days outpace weekends, and the evening commute is the most dangerous window across the metro.

Monthly Totals
Crashes by month · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Day of Week
Crashes by day · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Crashes by Hour of Day
Weekday vs. weekend · All Metro · CDOT 2024
04 — Year Over Year

Is the Metro Getting Safer?

Fatalities have trended down since the 2021 peak, but total crash volume keeps climbing.

Total Crashes
2022–2024 · All Metro · CDOT
Fatalities & Pedestrian Crashes
2022–2024 · All Metro · CDOT
Avg Rush Hour Speed (mph)
Denver metro — TomTom
Congestion
Colorado Statewide Crashes
CDOT annual totals · 2022–2024 exact from crash listings
Statewide
05 — Impaired Driving

One in Four Fatal Crashes Involves Impairment

Alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs were factors in 1,830 crashes across the five metro cities in 2024. While impairment accounts for about 6% of all crashes, it drives 26% of fatalities. Late-night hours are the most dangerous: between midnight and 3am, over 20% of all crashes involve a suspected impaired driver.

Impairment Rate by Hour
% of crashes involving impairment · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Substance Breakdown
Alcohol vs. marijuana vs. other drugs · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Impaired Driving's Share of Fatalities
By city · CDOT 2024
Fatal
06 — Speed

Speed Kills Disproportionately

Speed was a factor in 1,517 crashes across the metro in 2024, just 5% of the total, but it accounted for 30% of all fatalities. After dark, speed-related crashes spike sharply, mirroring the impaired driving curve. Aurora stands out: 42% of its traffic deaths involved speeding.

Speed-Related Crash Rate by Hour
% of crashes involving speed · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Speed Crashes by Speed Limit Zone
Where speeding crashes happen · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Speed's Share of Fatalities
By city · CDOT 2024
Fatal
07 — Hit-and-Run

One in Four Drivers Flee the Scene

7,875 hit-and-run crashes across the metro in 2024 — 25.6% of all crashes. Denver’s rate is the worst at 30.7%. After midnight, over half of all Denver crashes are hit-and-runs. Nearly a third of pedestrian crashes involve a driver who fled.

Hit-and-Run Rate by Hour
% of crashes that are hit-and-run · All Metro · CDOT 2024
Hit-and-Run Trend
2022–2024 · All Metro · CDOT
Hit-and-Run Rate by City
% of all crashes where driver fled · CDOT 2024
Accountability
08 — Vision Zero Accountability

Denver Promised Zero Deaths by 2030

In 2017, Denver adopted Vision Zero with a baseline of 51 fatalities and a goal of zero by 2030. Since then, fatalities have gone up, not down. The red zone shows the growing gap between the city's promise and reality.

Vision Zero: Promise vs. Reality
Denver traffic fatalities — actual vs. goal trajectory (DPD data)
Accountability
Fatalities
Traffic deaths 2022–2024 · All Metro · CDOT
+21%
Fatalities have increased 21% since Denver adopted Vision Zero in 2017. The city would need to go from 62 deaths in 2024 to zero in 6 years — a pace never achieved by any U.S. city.
51 DEATHS (2017) → 62 DEATHS (2024) → 0 GOAL (2030)
09 — Pedestrians & Cyclists

The Most Vulnerable on Metro Streets

1,248 pedestrian crashes and 810 cyclist crashes across the metro in 2024. Over half of all crashes occurred away from intersections.

Vulnerable Road User Crashes
Pedestrian & cyclist crashes · All Metro · CDOT
Pedestrian Crash Location
Intersection vs. mid-block, 2024
10 — The Metro Picture

Crash Rates Across the Metro

65 crash intersections mapped across Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Thornton, and unincorporated Adams/Arapahoe/Jefferson County. Use the Metro dropdown on the map to explore each city.

Crash Rate by Metro Area
Crashes per 1,000 residents · CDOT 2024 · 2024 ACS population
Per Capita
Dangerous Corridors
Key crash corridors across the Denver metro
Corridors
11 — Sources

Where This Data Comes From

Every number on this page links back to a publicly available dataset.

Denver Open Data Catalog
Primary source for crash-level records.

Traffic Accidents →
2024 data was ~85% complete as of early 2025.
CDOT Crash Data
Statewide crash listings (2022–2024, ~100K records each). Used for all charts and metro data. 2025 partial-year listing used for map intersection coordinate matching.

CDOT Crash Data →
CDOT Traffic Volumes
AADT from Highways in Colorado (81,600 segments, data.colorado.gov). Used for per-vehicle crash rate normalization.

Highways Dataset →
Denver Vision Zero
Fatal and serious-injury crash tracking.

Vision Zero →
TomTom / INRIX
Rush-hour speeds and congestion data. Denver drivers lost 44 hours to traffic in 2024.

TomTom → · INRIX →
12 — Methodology

How I Built This

Data sources: Denver intersection counts from Denver PD via Open Data Catalog. Metro-wide intersection counts (Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Thornton, unincorporated counties) from the CDOT Statewide Crash Data Listing (2025, 101,320 records, Jan 1 – Dec 31), matched to intersections by coordinate proximity (150m for surface streets, 300m for interchanges). 2022–2024 counts derived from annualized 2025 baseline using statewide year-over-year crash trends. Geocoding via OSM Nominatim. Routing via OSRM.
Traffic volume normalization: Crash rates (per million vehicles per year) use AADT from CDOT’s Highways in Colorado dataset (data.colorado.gov, 81,600 road segments) matched to intersections by coordinate proximity. At intersections, the higher-volume approaching road was used. Six city-street intersections without CDOT highway coverage use estimates. Use the “Per Vehicle” toggle on the map to rank by crash rate.
A note on underreporting: This data only includes crashes with a filed police report. Pedestrian and cyclist incidents are widely understood to be underreported — if no report is filed, the crash doesn’t appear in Denver Open Data. The real numbers are likely higher than what’s shown here.
Highway interchanges: At interstate locations (I-25, I-70, I-76), crash counts include all crashes near the interchange — on ramps, bridges, overpasses, and adjacent roads. The source data groups crashes by proximity and does not distinguish mainline vs. ramp vs. crossing road.
Vision Zero data: The accountability chart uses Denver Police Department fatality counts as reported by Westword, Denver Streets Partnership, and CDOT. These may differ slightly from other sections which use CDOT statewide methodology. Pedestrian fatality counts are from Denver DOTI. The goal trajectory assumes linear reduction from the 2017 baseline (51) to zero in 2030.
All public records. No affiliation with law firms, insurers, or agencies. This page collects no data, uses no analytics, and stores no cookies. Address and commute queries are sent directly to open source services (Nominatim, OSRM) and are never seen or stored by this site.