Traffic in Dearborn never really lets up. State records for 2024 from Michigan Traffic Crash Facts list 3,326 crashes inside the city, 783 of which left somebody hurt, plus 3 fatal crashes that killed 4 people. Over 1,100 drivers, passengers and pedestrians were injured, and 43 of them had suspected serious injuries. For each of those households, the crash was only the start: next came the emergency room, time off the job and calls from adjusters.
If you are searching for a Dearborn car accident lawyer, Khamo Law represents injured people from east Dearborn to the west end, in Dearborn Heights and across Wayne County. We take on No-Fault benefit fights, injury claims against careless drivers, uninsured and hit-and-run cases, and crashes tied to bad pavement or freeway construction. Because our attorneys and staff speak Arabic, Chaldean and English, many families here explain what happened to their lawyer in their first language, with no one translating in between. Reach us at (248) 466-0606. The first conversation costs nothing, and we collect a fee only if we obtain money for you.
Rules that apply in every Michigan county are explained on our main Michigan car accident lawyer page.
Legally reviewed by Attorney Koro E. Khamo
Founder & Managing Attorney at Khamo Law
Michigan Bar No. P80994
How a Dearborn Car Accident Lawyer Can Help
A single Dearborn wreck can open several separate claims: benefits from your own insurer, a case against the driver at fault, and sometimes a claim over a defective road or an I-94 work zone. Each has its own paperwork and its own clock. As your car accident attorney in Dearborn, MI, our team will:
- Open your personal injury protection (PIP) claim and keep pressing until hospital bills, therapy and missed paychecks are covered
- Answer every denial letter, late payment or sudden benefit cutoff with records and, if needed, a lawsuit
- Order the Dearborn Police report and ask Michigan Avenue, Warren Avenue and Ford Road businesses to save their camera footage
- Measure your medical proof against the legal test for a pain and suffering case
- Hunt down each policy that could pay, including your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
- Serve written notice on the state, county or city within the short window when a road problem contributed
- Bargain with adjusters, and file in Wayne County and go to trial when an offer falls short
REPRESENTATIVE RESULTS
Results That Reflect the Cases We Handle
Khamo Law has obtained millions of dollars in recoveries for injured clients.
Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Every case depends on its individual facts, injuries, liability, insurance coverage, and applicable law.
Dearborn Crash Statistics for 2024
The 2024 Wayne County crash profile from Michigan Traffic Crash Facts breaks down the city’s year like this:
- 3,326 reported crashes within Dearborn
- 783 where one or more people suffered an injury
- 3 deadly crashes that took 4 lives
- 1,113 injured people, 43 of them listed with suspected serious injuries
Next door, Dearborn Heights logged 1,251 more crashes, 278 of them with injuries. Averaged out, Dearborn sees over two injury crashes every single day.
Which Police Agency Handles a Dearborn Crash
On city streets, the Dearborn Police Department investigates. On I-94 and the Southfield Freeway (M-39), either Dearborn officers or the Michigan State Police may take the call, depending on the exact location. Dearborn Heights runs a separate police force. The responding agency writes the crash report, and adjusters usually read that report before anything else in your file.
Dearborn Roads Where Crashes Keep Happening
Several major Metro Detroit routes cross inside city limits, and many are state trunklines, which changes who answers for a road defect:
- Michigan Avenue (US-12): the shopping spine of both east and west Dearborn, packed with turning cars, bus riders and people on foot
- Ford Road (M-153): an east-west artery full of storefront driveways that fills up whenever freeway ramps nearby are shut
- Warren Avenue: a crowded retail street where walkers have lost their lives in recent years
- Telegraph Road (US-24): a wide, fast route running down the west side of town
- Southfield Freeway (M-39): a north-south expressway known for merge conflicts and rear-end impacts
- I-94: the interstate on Dearborn’s south side, carrying semis and now under reconstruction
- Greenfield Road, Schaefer Road, Outer Drive and Dix Avenue: heavily traveled streets with regular intersection collisions
Michigan Avenue (US-12)
As a state highway that threads through both downtown districts, Michigan Avenue mixes wide travel lanes, curbside parking, mid-block left turns and shoppers crossing between stores. In May 2026, Dearborn officers responded to a three-vehicle collision at Michigan Avenue and Jonathon Street that put several people in the hospital, one of them in critical condition. Cases like that usually come down to speed, the signal phase and right of way, so camera footage and witness names gathered in the first days carry real weight.
Ford Road (M-153) and the Southfield Freeway
Ford Road feeds straight into the Southfield Freeway (M-39), so it takes the overflow every time a ramp closes. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) repaved close to five miles of the Southfield Freeway from Pinecrest Drive to Ford Road in 2024. Its bridge project at the M-39 and I-94 interchange then pushed detoured drivers onto Ford Road, and a ramp to eastbound I-94 was set to stay closed for most of 2026. Drivers who do not know the area, bigger crowds of cars and last-second lane moves are a risky mix on a street lined with driveways.
Truck Traffic Near the Ford Rouge Complex
Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Complex anchors the south end of the city. Miller Road, Rotunda Drive and the streets around the plant carry shift workers, rail crossings and a steady stream of commercial trucks. State and county leaders marked completion of the roughly $60 million Miller-Rotunda bridge replacement in June 2026; the span passes over train tracks and the Rouge Plant access drive. When a semi is involved, the case can turn on federal safety rules, hours-of-service logs, maintenance files and much larger commercial policies. Our Michigan truck accident lawyer page walks through those differences.
Pedestrian Safety on Warren Avenue
Deaths of people on foot have put Warren Avenue in the spotlight. When Dearborn won a $24.8 million federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant in 2023, city officials pointed to walkers killed along the corridor, among them an 82-year-old woman hit near Freda Street. The West Warren Avenue Transformation Project is meant to calm speeds, cut down on lane weaving, add safer crossings and rebuild intersections. A person struck on foot here can often collect No-Fault benefits without owning a vehicle; our pedestrian accident page explains how.
The I-94 Rebuild Through Dearborn
MDOT is reconstructing almost 13 miles of I-94, from I-275 east to Michigan Avenue where Dearborn meets Detroit. The $353 million Restore I-94 project got underway in early 2026 and is scheduled to continue into 2029. Expect shifted and narrowed lanes, closed ramps and abrupt braking for years. A work zone collision may point to another motorist and, depending on the facts, the construction company or the road agency.
Why Dearborn Drivers Get Hurt
- Following too closely in the start-and-stop flow on Michigan Avenue, Ford Road and M-39
- Turning left across traffic into the many storefront driveways along commercial strips
- Striking pedestrians on Warren Avenue, Michigan Avenue and other shopping districts
- Construction confusion along I-94 and on detour routes around closed ramps
- Phones, drinking and drugs behind the wheel
- Fleeing the scene after causing a collision
- Semi-truck collisions on I-94 and the industrial roads around the Rouge
- Rideshare trips that end in a crash with an Uber or Lyft driver
Who Can Be Liable for Your Dearborn Injuries
We start with the motorist who caused the wreck, then look for anyone else who shares the blame:
- The careless motorist, plus whoever owns the car under Michigan’s owner liability statute
- A business whose worker was driving for the job, such as a delivery or service vehicle
- A motor carrier responsible for a semi near the Rouge or on I-94
- A Restore I-94 or bridge contractor that left barrels, signs or lane shifts in an unsafe condition
- MDOT, Wayne County or the City of Dearborn, only in narrow cases where the road surface itself was defective
No-Fault Coverage for Dearborn Crash Victims
Under Michigan’s No-Fault law, you turn first to your own auto policy, or a policy in your household, for crash injuries, and fault does not matter. PIP benefits typically include:
- Treatment costs at places like Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital, up to the medical limit selected on the policy
- Income replacement for as long as three years after the crash, capped each month
- Household help worth up to $20 a day for cooking, cleaning and errands you cannot handle
- Travel reimbursement for trips to appointments
- Personal care at home when an injury leaves you needing assistance
Drivers have chosen their own PIP medical limits since July 2, 2020, so the dollars available depend on which policy applies to you. No coverage at all? An injured person in that situation may apply through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan. When payments stall, our denied PIP benefits page and our Michigan No-Fault insurance lawyer page cover your options in depth.
Money Beyond PIP: Claims Against the Driver at Fault
Your PIP carrier will never compensate you for physical pain, anxiety or the activities you have had to give up. That claim runs against the negligent driver, and MCL 500.3135 allows it only when the crash caused death, permanent serious disfigurement, or a serious impairment of body function. Michigan courts read that last phrase as an objectively documented injury to an important body function that changes your general ability to live your normal life.
That same lawsuit can also reach:
- Lost earnings above the PIP cap, and lost earnings after the three-year PIP wage period runs out
- Hospital and treatment charges that go past your policy’s medical limit
- As much as $3,000 for uninsured vehicle repair costs, known as the mini-tort
When a crash takes a loved one, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim.
Road Defects and Work Zone Claims in Dearborn
A deep pothole, a dark traffic light, a missing sign or a badly planned I-94 lane shift can set a crash in motion. Government bodies are normally immune from suit in Michigan, yet the highway exception at MCL 691.1402 permits a claim when the agency let the traveled roadway fall out of reasonable repair. Ownership decides who is accountable: MDOT controls Michigan Avenue, Ford Road, Telegraph Road, the Southfield Freeway and I-94, while Wayne County and the City of Dearborn handle the remaining streets.
Timing is unforgiving. MCL 691.1404 generally demands written notice describing the defect, its exact spot and your injuries within 120 days. A privately owned construction firm gets no immunity and is judged like any other negligent business. Snap pictures of the hazard as soon as it is safe and contact us without delay.
When the Adjuster Blames You for the Crash
Dearborn insurers often claim a pedestrian stepped out mid-block or that a turning driver misjudged a gap. Michigan follows comparative negligence, so whatever percentage of fault is assigned to you trims your recovery from the other motorist. Cross the 50% line and you lose the right to noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, altogether. Fault has no effect on your PIP benefits. Signal timing, video and witness statements are often what settle the argument.
Hit-and-Run, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists
A driver who sped off, carried no liability policy or bought only the minimum can leave a gap in your recovery. Optional uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy may fill it, but every policy sets its own conditions, often including a fast police report and prompt written notice. Read yours and call police immediately after any hit-and-run. Our pages on uninsured and underinsured motorist claims and Michigan hit-and-run accidents have the details.
Proof We Gather for Dearborn Cases
- The official report written by Dearborn officers or State Police troopers
- Storefront camera recordings from Michigan Avenue, Warren Avenue and Ford Road, many of which overwrite themselves in a matter of days
- Dashcam clips and cell phone recordings taken by you, bystanders or other motorists
- Pictures showing vehicle damage, signals, construction signage and pavement
- Event data recorder downloads, along with driver logs and inspection files when a truck was involved
- Doctor and hospital charts linking each diagnosis to the collision
Injuries We See After Dearborn Collisions
- Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries
- Whiplash, bulging or herniated discs and other spine damage
- Spinal cord trauma
- Fractured arms, legs, ribs and hips
- Torn rotator cuffs and knee ligaments
- Organ damage and internal bleeding
- Permanent scars and disfigurement
Head and soft tissue injuries can stay quiet for a day or more before pain sets in. An early medical visit protects your recovery and creates the record an insurer will want to see.
Your Checklist After a Dearborn Car Crash
- Dial 911 so Dearborn Police or the State Police come out and write up the crash.
- Get checked out. The emergency department at Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital, 18101 Oakwood Boulevard, is close by. Mention even minor aches.
- Use your phone camera on the cars, the intersection, the signals, any construction signs and your injuries.
- Look around for cameras on shops, gas stations and homes facing the street.
- Swap details with the other motorist and write down witness names and numbers.
- Report the crash to your insurer to get your No-Fault file opened.
- Say no to a recorded interview with the at-fault driver’s carrier until you have spoken with counsel.
- Talk to an auto accident lawyer in Dearborn before deadlines start slipping by.
Getting Your Dearborn Police Crash Report
Dearborn Police make crash reports available for purchase online through the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System (CLEMIS). Have three things ready: the incident number printed on your crash slip, the birth date of a driver, owner or passenger in the crash, and the crash date. For other police records, send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the department’s FOIA unit at 313-943-2230 or Police-FOIA@dearborn.gov. The City of Dearborn police records page lays out the process.
Clients skip this step entirely. Khamo Law pulls the report while opening your file and studies it as part of our investigation, leaving you free to concentrate on healing.
Filing Deadlines for Dearborn Crash Claims
- PIP notice: MCL 500.3145 generally gives you one year from the crash to notify your insurer in writing, and a PIP suit can usually recover only charges incurred during the year before it was filed.
- Assigned Claims Plan application: due within one year when no policy covers you, under MCL 500.3174.
- Government road claims: written notice usually within 120 days, per MCL 691.1404.
- Injury lawsuit against the driver: ordinarily three years from the crash under MCL 600.5805.
Letting one of these dates pass can wipe out benefits you would otherwise collect, so get guidance early.
Courts That Hear Dearborn Car Accident Cases
Dearborn crash suits are venued in Wayne County. Claims worth $25,000 or less may go to the 19th District Court, located at 16077 Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. Higher-value cases are filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Third Judicial Circuit, in downtown Detroit. Certain claims against state agencies belong in the Michigan Court of Claims.
Arabic-Speaking Car Accident Lawyers for Dearborn Families
Dearborn has one of the largest Arab American communities in the United States, and after a crash many residents would rather discuss doctors, insurance and legal choices in Arabic. At our firm, the attorneys and staff speak Arabic, Chaldean and English. Your lawyer can walk you through No-Fault, go over letters from the insurance company and answer questions in your own language, without relying on an interpreter. Read more about our Arabic-speaking auto accident attorneys.
More Ways We Help Injured Dearborn Residents
- Semi and commercial truck crashes
- Motorcycle collisions
- Rideshare crashes with Uber or Lyft
- Fatal crash and wrongful death cases
Many Dearborn roads run straight across the Detroit line, so a crash a few blocks east may fall under Detroit police and courts. Our Detroit car accident lawyer page covers crashes on that side of the border.
What Dearborn Clients Get With Khamo Law
- Daily work on crash claims: PIP disputes and suits against negligent drivers make up a large share of our caseload.
- Three languages: our attorneys and staff speak Arabic, Chaldean and English, so nothing gets lost between you and your lawyer.
- Contingency fee: we are paid from a recovery, not from your pocket.
- Free first meeting by phone, by video or in person at our Troy office.
Across all our cases, Khamo Law has secured more than $40 million for injured people, and our lawyers together bring over 40 years of experience. More than 230 clients have reviewed us on Google for an average of 5.0 stars. Founder Koro E. Khamo has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star and included in The National Trial Lawyers’ Top 40 Under 40. We work from offices in Troy and Sterling Heights.
Common Questions From Dearborn Crash Victims
Is it worth calling a car accident attorney in Dearborn, MI for a smaller crash?
A fender bender with no injuries rarely needs one. Legal help tends to matter when you were hurt, the other side disputes fault, your insurer is slow or refusing to pay, the at-fault motorist was uninsured or fled, or road conditions or construction were part of the cause.
Whose insurance covers my hospital bills from a Dearborn crash?
Usually your own, or that of a relative you live with. Michigan PIP pays medical costs no matter who was at fault, up to the medical limit on the policy.
A car struck me on Warren Avenue while I was walking. What are my options?
You can likely collect PIP benefits through a policy in your household, or through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan if none exists. If your injuries are serious enough to meet the state threshold, you may also sue the driver.
I crashed in the Restore I-94 work zone. Who could be at fault?
Possibly the other motorist, and in some cases the contractor running the work zone or the road agency. If it is safe, photograph the barrels, signs and lane lines, and call a lawyer soon, because a notice to a government agency can be due within 120 days.
When does Michigan let me recover for pain and suffering?
Only when the crash caused death, permanent serious disfigurement or a serious impairment of body function, and only if you carry no more than half of the blame.
How quickly must I act after an auto accident in Dearborn?
Your insurer needs written PIP notice within one year, and a suit against the driver usually has to be filed within three years. A claim over a defective public road has a far shorter 120-day notice window, and store video can vanish within days.
Will my lawyer speak with me in Arabic?
Yes. Our attorneys and staff speak Arabic, Chaldean and English, so you can talk through every step directly in the language you prefer.
What will a Dearborn car accident lawyer charge me?
Nothing up front. Khamo Law takes crash cases on contingency, and if there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee.
Start Your Dearborn Car Accident Claim
Were you or someone in your family injured in a crash in Dearborn or Dearborn Heights? Phone Khamo Law at (248) 466-0606 or reach out online to schedule a no-cost consultation by phone, by video or at our Troy office.
The information on this page is educational and is not legal advice about your specific case. Outcomes in earlier matters do not predict or ensure the result in yours.