Skip to content 
In 2024, 44 of the 94 people who died from work injuries in Arizona were killed in transportation incidents, mostly crashes on the road. That is 47%, compared with 38% across the U.S., according to a Harris Injury Law analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.
The timing matters. Holiday shopping and delivery season is starting, and many Arizonans will spend more of their workday driving.
Behind each number is a person who left for work and did not come home. Many were doing ordinary jobs: driving a delivery route, hauling freight or working on a road crew next to traffic. This article uses 10 years of federal data to show how often Arizona work deaths happen on the road, who is most at risk and what injured workers and families should know.
Key findings
- Transportation incidents caused 44 of Arizona’s 94 work deaths in 2024 (47%), more than any other cause.
- Across the U.S., the share was 38%.
- These deaths rose from 42 to 44 in 2024, even though total work deaths in Arizona fell from 103 to 94.
- Over 10 years, from 2015 to 2024, transportation incidents caused 42% of all work deaths in Arizona.
- Workers who drive or move goods for a living had more work deaths in 2024 than any other job group.
What is the #1 cause of work-related deaths in Arizona?
Transportation incidents. In 2024, they caused more work deaths in Arizona than the next three causes put together: harmful substances or conditions (19), falls (17) and being struck by or caught in objects (7).
Most of these deaths happened on public roads. Of the 44, 36 involved a vehicle on a roadway.
The overall picture improved in 2024. Total work deaths in Arizona fell from 103 to 94, and deaths from falls dropped from 19 to 17. Road and transport deaths went the other way, rising from 42 to 44. That is why they now make up a bigger share of all work deaths than they did the year before.
How does Arizona compare with the rest of the country?
Arizona’s share is higher. Almost half of Arizona’s work deaths in 2024 happened in transportation incidents. Across the country, it was a little more than one in three.
The gap was there in 2023 as well, when 41% of Arizona’s work deaths were transportation incidents, compared with 37% across the U.S.
Is this a new problem?
No. BLS’s yearly reports for Arizona show that from 2015 to 2024, transportation incidents caused 366 of the state’s 876 work deaths, or 42%.
The yearly number moves up and down, but it has risen two years in a row, from 38 in 2022 to 44 in 2024. The share jumped in 2021 mainly because total work deaths that year were unusually low.
Put another way, over that decade about three Arizona workers a month died in a road or transport incident.
Who is most at risk?
People whose jobs keep them on the road. Workers in transportation and material moving jobs, such as truck drivers, delivery drivers and warehouse workers, had 33 work deaths in 2024, more than any other job group.
By industry, transportation and warehousing (28) and construction (24) had the most work deaths from all causes.
For drivers, the reason is simple: the road is the workplace. A truck or delivery driver can spend most of the day in traffic, often on long routes and at all hours. The BLS report for 2023 shows how closely the two are linked. Of the 32 work deaths among transportation and material moving workers that year, 27 were caused by transportation incidents.
Construction workers face a different road risk. Many work beside live traffic in road work zones, where a passing driver who is not paying attention can hit them.
What counts as a “transportation incident”?
BLS uses this term for work deaths that involve a vehicle or another way of moving people or goods. It includes:
- crashes on public roads
- workers hit by a vehicle
- accidents with other vehicles, such as off-road equipment, trains or aircraft
In everyday terms, that could be a delivery driver killed in a crash on a city street, a road crew worker hit by a passing car in a work zone, or a farm worker killed when a tractor rolls over.
It counts only deaths, not injuries. It also counts only deaths that happen while working, so an ordinary drive to or from work is usually not included.
To build these counts, BLS checks several kinds of records, such as death certificates, police reports and news stories, and confirms that each death was tied to work.
Takeaways
What the data tells us:
- The road is now the biggest danger at work in Arizona. For many workers, the main risk is not a fall or a machine on a job site. It is traffic. Safety efforts that focus only on job sites miss where most work deaths happen.
- Progress at job sites is not reaching the road. Work deaths overall went down in 2024, but road deaths went up. The gains made in other kinds of workplace safety are not carrying over to people who drive or work near traffic.
- This looks like a lasting Arizona pattern, not a one-year blip. Arizona’s road share was above the national share in both 2023 and 2024, and road deaths have made up a large part of the state’s work deaths for a decade.
- A small group of jobs carries most of the risk. Drivers, delivery and warehouse workers, and road crews face the highest danger. They and their families are also the people most likely to need both a workers’ compensation claim and a claim against another driver.
What should you do after a crash at work?
These steps help protect your health and your claim:
- Get medical care first. Call 911 if anyone is hurt. See a doctor even if you feel fine, because some injuries show up later.
- Tell your employer as soon as you can. A workers’ compensation claim starts with your employer knowing you were hurt on the job.
- Report the crash to police. Ask for the report number. The report records what happened and who was involved.
- Get the other driver’s details. Write down their name, phone number, license plate and insurance information, and the names of any witnesses.
- Take photos. Photograph the vehicles, the scene, the road and any injuries.
- Keep records. Save medical bills, notes on missed workdays and any letters from insurance companies.
What if you are hurt on the road while working?
If you are hurt in a crash while on the job, you may have two separate claims.
- Workers’ compensation. This is insurance your employer carries. It pays medical bills and part of lost wages, no matter who caused the crash. In Arizona, you generally must file within one year (A.R.S. 23-1061).
- A claim against the other driver. If another driver caused the crash, you may also have a claim against them. This is called a third-party claim. It can cover losses workers’ compensation does not, such as pain and suffering. The deadline is generally two years (A.R.S. 12-542).
- How the two connect. If you do not file the claim against the other driver within one year, the right to bring it can pass to your employer’s insurance company. That insurer can also be paid back from what you recover (A.R.S. 23-1023).
Here is a simple example. A delivery driver is stopped at a red light when another car hits them from behind. Workers’ compensation can pay for the driver’s medical care and part of their lost pay.
Because the other driver caused the crash, the delivery driver may also have a claim against that driver. If the delivery driver recovers money in that claim, part of it may go back to the workers’ compensation insurer for what it already paid.
Harris Injury Law’s guide to personal injury and workers’ compensation claims explains how the two fit together. Workers and families with questions can request a free consultation with a workplace injury attorney in Phoenix.
Methodology
This analysis uses the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries releases for Arizona covering 2015 to 2024, read on October 29, 2026. “Transportation incidents” is BLS’s own category for how a work death happened. The 10-year totals add up each year’s Arizona count.
Journalists may use these figures with a link to this page.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
