A two-vehicle crash near 59th Avenue and Thomas Road in West Phoenix left four adults in critical condition and sent a teenage boy to the hospital in stable condition Friday night. The Phoenix Fire Department responded around 9 p.m. to treat five total victims at the scene before handing the investigation over to Phoenix police.
Emergency crews transported two men and two women to a hospital in critical condition, according to KTAR News. A separate report from 12News similarly described the injured adults as three men and one woman, all transported in critical condition, while the teenage boy was listed in stable condition. The discrepancy in the gender breakdown of the injured adults between the two outlets’ reporting remains unresolved. Firefighters stabilized all five victims on scene before Phoenix Police Department detectives took control of the crash investigation.
A Corridor With a Violent History
This is not the first time this stretch of West Phoenix has seen carnage. Back in December 2022, three people died inside a burning vehicle after a high-speed rear-end collision near this same intersection, when a car struck a pickup truck near a local restaurant, according to the same 12News report on that earlier fire. Police at the time pointed to high speed as a primary factor in that fatal crash.
City of Phoenix Transportation Subcommittee records from June 2022 show that stretches of Thomas Road and 59th Avenue are designated as part of the municipal High Injury Network, with the nearby intersection of 75th Avenue and Thomas Road ranked 18th on the city’s list of highest-risk crash locations. The city adopted its Vision Zero plan in late 2022, directing $10 million annually toward high-collision arterial corridors like this one…