Cary car accident statistics

Cary's 2024 total in NCDMV's crash book is 2,792 crashes. Five people died in them and 998 were injured. The figures come from the city crash data table in the 2024 North Carolina Traffic Crash Facts report, the newest edition posted.

Where those crashes happen is a harder question, and the official sources answer it road by road rather than with a ranking.

What are Cary's 2024 numbers by crash type?

The table counts people killed and people injured. It does not count fatal crashes. The pedestrian row carries 2 of Cary's 5 deaths for the year.

Alcohol crashes make up 83 of the 2,792 and account for 42 of the injuries, with no deaths listed in that row. Ten bicycle crashes injured 10 people.

The table covers one year only, so this page makes no comparison with 2023. NCDMV's Crash Facts page says the 2025 report can be requested by email, and until it is posted 2024 is the latest year in print.

How does NCDOT decide what counts?

NCDOT counts reportable crashes as defined by G.S. 20-4.01(33b), meaning a crash with death or injury, or $1,000 or more in property damage.

Some NCDOT products narrow the field further. NCDOT describes its fatal and serious injury crash map as showing crashes on public roadways, and that public roadway limit comes from NCDOT's counting practice for the map. The statute's definition says nothing about it.

A second NCDOT report counts Cary differently. Over three years, NCDOT's 2025 ranking of cities with 10,000 or more people puts Cary at 11,728 crashes between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. The ranking classes 17 of them as fatal crashes and 2,086 as non-fatal injury crashes. Those are three-year totals of crashes sorted by severity, and they cannot be compared with the one-year table above. The ranking also gives the alcohol-related share of Cary's crashes as 2.60 percent.

The county-wide numbers are on the Wake County page.

Where do official sources point to crash problems on Cary roads?

The Town of Cary's page of NCDOT projects names safety as a stated need for one Cary project. It says the primary need for the Maynard Road railroad grade separation "is to improve traffic flow and safety on this thoroughfare." NCDOT plans a crossing that carries the road over or under the tracks, with construction scheduled for fiscal year 2031.

Toll NC 540 has a published count of its own. The Turnpike Authority's report for the second quarter of 2026 lists 75 crashes from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2026 on the 2.8-mile segment from NC 54, which the Authority places on the west side of Cary, to NC 55. The Authority reports a total crash rate on every Triangle Expressway segment below the statewide rate it used for comparison.

Other entries on the town's page give different reasons. NCDOT's plan for the Crossroads Junction interchange, where I-40, I-440, US 1 and US 64 meet, is described as a redesign to relieve congestion. The upgrade of US 64 between US 1 and Laura Duncan Road appears on the same page with construction listed for 2030.

None of these sources ranks Cary's roads as more or less dangerous than one another. This page does not rank them either.

How can you look up one Cary location?

NCDOT's Safety Data Maps include a Highway Safety Improvement Locations map, which NCDOT describes as intersections and road segments identified as priority locations for safety improvements based on crash data. A Section Safety Scores map gives planning level crash data for state-maintained road segments. NCDOT says its maps are updated annually unless otherwise noted.

For numbers on a single intersection, NCDOT takes crash data requests for an intersection or a section of road through a form on its crash data page. The same page notes that many traffic crashes go unreported.

A crash map points to clusters. It does not settle fault in one crash, and fault carries extra weight in this state for the reason the page on contributory negligence explains. The Cary crash attorney page covers the town's police department, its county line and its hospital.