Fatality Analysis Reporting System ( FARS )

The program collects data for analysis of traffic safety crashes to identify problems, and evaluate countermeasures leading to reducing injuries and property damage resulting from motor vehicle crashes. The FARS dataset contains descriptions, in standard format, of each fatal crash reported. To qualify for inclusion, a crash must involve a motor vehicle traveling a traffic-way customarily open to the public and resulting in the death of a person (occupant of a vehicle or a non-motorist) within 30 days of the crash. Each crash has more than 100 coded data elements that characterize the crash, the vehicles, and the people involved. The specific data elements may be changed slightly each year to conform to the changing user needs, vehicle characteristics and highway safety emphasis areas. The type of information that FARS, a major application, processes is therefore motor vehicle crash data.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
accrualPeriodicity R/P1Y
agencyDataSeriesURL https://www.nhtsa.gov/content/nhtsa-ftp/251
agencyProgramURL http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
analysisUnit Crash / Vehicle / driver /person
bureauCode {021:18}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_@id https://data.transportation.gov/data.json
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
categoryDesignation Statistical
collectionInstrument Web application
collection_metadata true
dataQuality true
describedBy http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
identifier DOT-25
issued 1980-01-01
landingPage https://data.transportation.gov/d/mzrg-xkip
language {en-US}
license http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
modified 2020-11-22
phone 202-366-2622
programCode {021:000}
publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
references {http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx}
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash a80d6bcffff8bee95dd0a05904139297db66e89d
source_schema_version 1.1
temporal R/1975-01-01/P1Y
theme {Transportation}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • crash
  • death
  • fars
  • fatal
  • fatal-vehicle-crashes
  • fatality-analysis-traffic-safety
  • geo
  • geoss
  • injury
  • national
  • north-america
  • united-states
  • vehicle
isopen False
license_id us-pd
license_title us-pd
maintainer Lixin Zhao
maintainer_email lixin.zhao@dot.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-20T22:22:27.609903
metadata_modified 2025-11-20T22:22:27.609907
notes The program collects data for analysis of traffic safety crashes to identify problems, and evaluate countermeasures leading to reducing injuries and property damage resulting from motor vehicle crashes. The FARS dataset contains descriptions, in standard format, of each fatal crash reported. To qualify for inclusion, a crash must involve a motor vehicle traveling a traffic-way customarily open to the public and resulting in the death of a person (occupant of a vehicle or a non-motorist) within 30 days of the crash. Each crash has more than 100 coded data elements that characterize the crash, the vehicles, and the people involved. The specific data elements may be changed slightly each year to conform to the changing user needs, vehicle characteristics and highway safety emphasis areas. The type of information that FARS, a major application, processes is therefore motor vehicle crash data.
num_resources 1
num_tags 16
title Fatality Analysis Reporting System ( FARS )