WICKENBURG, AZ — Authorities say four people are dead and another seriously injured after a passenger car collided head-on with a big rig near Wikieup early Monday.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials say the crash occurred about 12:30 a.m. Monday after the car reportedly swerved into the path of the semi-truck on US 93 northwest of Wickenburg.
They say the driver and three passengers in the car died at the scene and a fourth passenger was hospitalized, while the semi-truck driver suffered minor injuries. The names, ages and hometowns of the four people who were killed weren't immediately released.
DPS officials say the crash closed US 93 between Interstate 40 and State Route 71 for about six hours.
This is the third deadly crash that has occurred in recent weeks on this portion of US 93.
Two people died and five others were injured following a multi-vehicle crash north of Wickenburg on the US 93 on April 30.
Just weeks later, on May 20, a Honda passenger van was reportedly traveling northbound when it veered across the center line into the southbound lanes of traffic, causing a deadly crash.
On June 1, a pickup truck driver crossed the center lane and struck a semi-truck head-on, causing another deadly crash.
DANGEROUS STRETCH OF US 93
US 93 is the primary route for drivers between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
In a recent investigation, ABC15 looked at the area from milepost 199, where US 93 splits from US 60 in Wickenburg, to mile marker 120, which is just north of Wikieup.
The ABC15 Investigators obtained vehicle crash data from the ADOT from 2015 to 2019, as well as preliminary 2020 fatality crash information from the DPS, to perform this analysis.
Thirty-five people have died along this portion of US 93 from 2015 to 2020.
Watch an interactive map below showing these crashes as they occurred in 2019, the most recent year for which detailed crash data has been made available.
Read more about ABC15's in-depth analysis of this dangerous portion of the US 93 highway here.
The combination of fatalities and long average ambulance wait times led consumer website Value Penguin to name US 93 the most dangerous highway in the United States in 2018.
