A sedan carrying several children collided with other vehicles near 67th Avenue just south of Deer Valley Road in Glendale on Thursday, leaving multiple kids injured — including one child who was reported unconscious with a head injury. A pickup truck involved in the crash flipped on impact, and Arrowhead Loop Road was closed to northbound traffic as first responders worked the scene.
According to AZ Family, first responders were called to the reported three-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon in the area of 67th Avenue and Deer Valley Road in the Northwest Valley. Glendale police told the outlet that one child was unconscious due to a head injury, while other children were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The station's report does not specify how many children were involved in total, and information about any other injuries was not immediately provided.
Police had not released a cause of the crash as of Thursday, and it remains unclear whether speed, impairment, or another factor contributed to the pickup truck rolling over. Whether the children inside the sedan were properly secured in child restraints has also not been addressed by investigators. Under Arizona law, drivers transporting children under age 5 must use an approved child restraint system, and kids between ages 5 and 7 who stand under 4 feet 9 inches are required to ride in a booster seat, according to Stone Rose Law.
A Corridor With A Troubled Recent History
Thursday's crash landed on a stretch of north Glendale that has seen repeated serious collisions in recent years. Less than two miles south of Deer Valley Road, a four-vehicle chain-reaction crash involving a box truck killed one driver and injured two others at 67th Avenue and Utopia Road in May, as reported by FOX 10 Phoenix — a crash Hoodline covered in its own report on the fatal Utopia Road pileup.
Just north of Deer Valley Road, a 13-year-old Mountain Ridge High School student riding a bicycle was critically injured last year when a pickup truck struck him near 67th Avenue and Hillcrest Boulevard, FOX 10 Phoenix reported. That same stretch of 67th Avenue serves as a primary route to Mountain Ridge High School, meaning closures like Thursday's ripple through school commutes and neighborhood traffic flow. In November 2024, a 35-year-old woman was killed nearby when an impaired driver crashed into her home near 67th Avenue and Beardsley Road, a case Hoodline covered previously.
Planned Widening Still Years Away
Both the City of Glendale and the Maricopa Association of Governments have flagged this section of 67th Avenue for future upgrades. Glendale's Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2024 through 2033 calls for widening 67th Avenue from Loop 101 to Arrowhead Loop Road to standardize roadway capacity, according to city budget documents. A regional transportation plan from the Maricopa Association of Governments separately calls for intersection improvements at Arrowhead Loop and Deer Valley Road, along with expanding 67th Avenue to six lanes with bike lanes, curbs, and sidewalks stretching up to Pinnacle Peak Road.
Thursday's crash also came the same day the Arizona Department of Transportation released its 2026 Crash Facts report, showing statewide traffic fatalities fell 5.2 percent in 2025 to 1,156 deaths, with total crashes down 4.4 percent to 118,052. Even with that improvement, ADOT's data shows speeding contributed to 367 fatalities statewide last year, alcohol impairment contributed to 334, and 320 people killed were not using safety restraints. Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 1,019 child traffic fatalities and an estimated 161,478 child injuries from motor vehicle crashes in 2023.
Glendale police have not said when they expect to determine what caused Thursday's crash. The extent of injuries to the unconscious child, along with the conditions of the other children hurt in the collision, has not been updated beyond the initial reports.
