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Alcohol-impaired fatalities accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. motor vehicle deaths in 2018, the lowest percentage since 1982 when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began reporting alcohol data. This was sparked by a 3.6 percent decrease in alcohol-impaired driving fatalities from 2017 to 2018 (National Center for Statistics & Analysis [NCSA], 2019). […]
Rear Belt Use Lower in For-Hire Vehicles Each year, hundreds of unbelted passengers in the back seat of motor vehicles are killed in crashes. New federal data reveal that, in 2018 alone, 803 unrestrained rear seat passengers age eight and up lost their lives; more than 400 of them may be alive today had they […]
This report makes specific recommendations on how states and other stakeholders can and should save lives by increasing rear seat belt use by adults: States should pass and enforce strong laws and publicize the benefits of belt use in all seating situations; Fir-hire vehicle services should actively promote belt use to their passengers; Vehicle manufacturers […]
This manual is the latest version of the FARS coding manual for the period 1982 to 2018, covering auxiliary datasets.
From 2009 to 2018 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes increased 8 percent overall. The trend of the increase over the last decade is seen in Figure 1. Pedestrian fatalities increased 53 percent during this time. In 2009 pedestrians accounted for 12 percent of all crash fatalities. This increased at varying rates, averaging 4 percent […]
There were 36,560 people killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes on U.S. roadways during 2018, a 2.4-percent decrease from 37,473 in 2017, which came after a 0.9- percent decrease from 2016 to 2017. Prior to 2016 there were two back-to-back yearly increases of 8.4 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. Fatalities decreased from 2017 to 2018 […]
As part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) mission to help Americans drive, ride, and walk safely, the agency is urging consumers to avoid using or purchasing car seats for their child that do not meet federal safety standards. On October 29, 2019, a concerned pediatrician alerted NHTSA about […]
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to bring major improvements in highway safety. Motor vehicle crashes caused an estimated 37,133 fatalities in 2017; a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has shown that 94% of crashes are due to human errors. For this reason, federal oversight of the testing and deployment of autonomous […]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall that affects more than 50,000 school buses nationwide. Certain models of Thomas Built buses are being recalled for not having enough padding in the back of the seat. The organization says this could increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash. One […]
Each year, the Thanksgiving holiday results in millions of travelers on the road, en route to and from their holiday destination. With your help, NHTSA wants to ensure drivers and their passengers are safe during this special time of year. During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2017, there were 365 passenger vehicle occupants killed in […]
