Lansing’s crash data tells a story that is easy to miss if you only look at the total number of accidents. Ingham County crashes are rising, but in Lansing, one of the most important long-term trends is even more surprising: total crashes fell while fatal and serious-injury crashes increased.
That raises a bigger question than simply, “How many crashes happened?” It asks which crashes are causing the most harm, where serious collisions are concentrated, and what patterns keep showing up in the data.
The Clark Law Office created the 2026 Lansing Car Accident Report to answer those questions using official local, county and statewide crash data. What we found goes well beyond an annual crash count, revealing the crash types, road patterns and risk factors most closely associated with Lansing’s most serious outcomes.
- Ingham County crashes increased 12.8% from 2023 to 2025, rising from 7,849 to 8,853 reported crashes.
- Lansing’s long-term severity trend is the biggest warning sign: total crashes fell about 12% from 2014 to 2022, while fatal and suspected-serious-injury crashes increased about 56%.
- Angle crashes caused more severe outcomes than any other identified crash type, even though rear-end crashes were more common overall.
- Principal and minor arterial roads accounted for about 71% of Lansing’s fatal and suspected-serious-injury crashes.
- Pedestrian and bicycle crashes were especially severe, representing less than 2% of all Lansing crashes but nearly 18% of fatal and serious-injury crashes.
Lansing and Ingham County at a Glance
The latest complete county data shows that crash volume has continued to rise across Ingham County. From 2023 through 2025, total reported crashes increased from 7,849 to 8,853, while injury crashes and the number of people injured also moved higher. The year-to-year changes were not identical, but the broader direction is clear: more crashes were being reported across the county by 2025 than two years earlier.
| Ingham County | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total crashes | 7,849 | 8,235 | 8,853 |
| Injury crashes | 1,508 | 1,534 | 1,611 |
| Fatal crashes | 28 | 16 | 26 |
| People injured | 2,117 | 2,126 | 2,194 |
| People killed | 30 | 21 | 27 |
| Property-damage-only crashes | 6,313 | 6,685 | 7,216 |
The recent county trend gives us the regional picture. The longer-term City of Lansing data reveals a different and more important question: did fewer crashes actually mean safer roads?
Fewer Crashes Did Not Mean Safer Roads
The most important finding in Lansing’s long-term crash data is that overall crash volume and crash severity moved in opposite directions.
In 2014, the City of Lansing recorded 4,110 total crashes, including 57 fatal or suspected-serious-injury crashes. By 2022, total crashes had fallen to 3,616, while fatal and suspected-serious-injury crashes had increased to 89.
That means total crashes declined about 12%, while the city’s most severe crashes increased about 56% over the same period.
The annual pattern was not perfectly linear, and driving patterns changed substantially during the pandemic years. But the broader contrast is difficult to ignore: fewer total crashes did not produce fewer severe outcomes.
In 2014, approximately 1.4% of Lansing crashes resulted in death or suspected serious injury. By 2022, that share had increased to approximately 2.5%.
That distinction matters because a minor property-damage collision and a crash causing permanent disability each count as one crash in the annual total. Looking only at how many crashes occurred can therefore make road safety appear better even while the most serious outcomes are becoming more common.