Fatality Analysis Reporting System

Fatality Analysis Reporting System
Name	Fatality Analysis Reporting System
Abbreviation	FARS
Formation	1975
Founder	National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Type	Federal database
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Region served	United States

Fatality Analysis Reporting System

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System is a U.S. federal dataset that compiles motor vehicle crash fatalities; it supports research by agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and academic centers like the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Originating after policy actions in the 1970s during the tenure of the United States Department of Transportation leadership and in response to legislative frameworks such as the Highway Safety Act of 1966 and subsequent National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act adjuncts, it informs analyses by think tanks including the RAND Corporation and university programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Cornell University.

Overview

FARS records all crash incidents on public roadways within the United States that involve at least one person killed within 30 days, integrating reports from state agencies such as the California Highway Patrol, New York State Police, Texas Department of Transportation, Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and coroners from counties like Los Angeles County and Cook County. The system synthesizes inputs from sources including police accident reports, death certificates produced by state vital records offices, and vehicle registration databases like those maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles (California), enabling comparative studies used by institutions such as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, American Automobile Association, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and public authorities like the Federal Highway Administration.

Data Collection and Methodology

Data collection follows protocols established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and coordinated with state counterparts such as the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Michigan State Police. Field data are aggregated from police crash reports, medical examiner records from offices such as the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and administrative sources like the Social Security Administration for decedent verification; coding and quality assurance practices reference standards used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and statistical methods taught at institutions like the University of Chicago. Methodological guidelines evolved alongside federal initiatives including SAE International standards, collaborations with research centers at Carnegie Mellon University, and assessments by advisory groups including the Transportation Research Board.

Variables and Coding

FARS includes variables on crash circumstance, vehicle type, occupant characteristics and environmental factors with coding schemes comparable to taxonomies from National Fire Protection Association and classification frameworks used by the International Organization for Standardization. Variables include crash identifiers, person roles (driver, passenger, pedestrian) consistent with reporting in states like Arizona, Illinois, North Carolina and equipment information such as seat belt usage, airbag deployment and child restraint type referenced in studies by Columbia University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University and safety evaluations from the National Safety Council. Location coding uses road functional classification systems applied by the Federal Highway Administration and mapping frameworks employed by the United States Geological Survey and National Map.

Data Access and Tools

Public-use extracts and analytical tools are disseminated through portals managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and mirrored by research repositories at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and libraries at University of Michigan. Analysts employ statistical software from vendors like SAS Institute, StataCorp, R Project for Statistical Computing and geographic tools from Esri to visualize patterns across states including Oregon, Nevada, Kentucky and regions tracked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Training materials and data dictionaries have been developed in partnership with academic groups at University of Minnesota, policy centers at Brookings Institution and nonprofit organizations such as Safe Kids Worldwide.

Uses and Applications

Researchers, policymakers and industry stakeholders use the dataset for evaluation of safety measures promoted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, interventions advocated by the American Medical Association or recommendations from the World Health Organization for global comparisons. Applications include vehicle crashworthiness studies by Volvo, Toyota, General Motors, and regulatory impact analyses for laws like the Corporate Average Fuel Economy rule when assessing trade-offs; public health studies at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and urban planning research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology leverage FARS to examine trends in pedestrian safety across cities such as Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle.

Limitations and Criticisms

Critiques cite undercounting and misclassification issues noted by scholars at Princeton University, Duke University, Georgetown University and audit findings from the Government Accountability Office, as well as lag times highlighted in reports from Congressional Research Service. Limitations arise from variability in state reporting practices across agencies like the Idaho State Police and the Alaska State Troopers, inconsistent medical examiner protocols in jurisdictions such as Harris County, Texas and challenges integrating data with electronic health records from systems run by Kaiser Permanente and Veterans Health Administration. Methodological critiques appear in literature from journals edited by academics at Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and conference proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Category:Road safety