In this annual report, Traffic Safety Facts 2009: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) presents descriptive statistics about traffic crashes of all severities, from those that result in property damage to those that result in the loss of human life.

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is maintained by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The FARS is currently the only database that contains detailed information on the fatal crashes involving law enforcement officers. The characteristics of law enforcement officers' fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes were investigated using the FARS data from 1980 to 2008. The characteristics were analyzed at the crash level for 772 crashes that involved at least one law enforcement officer's fatality, at the vehicle level for 776 police vehicles with law enforcement...

This survey is conducted annually by the National Center for Statistics and analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It presents results from the 2009 National Occupant Protection use Survey (NOPUS) Controlled Intersection Study. NOPUS is the only nationwide probability-based occupant restraint use survey.

Statistical analyses based on FARS and NASS CDS data from 1997 to 2009 found that a vehicle equipped with electronic stability control (ESC) had a smaller likelihood of being involved in a crash than a similar vehicle without ESC. This analysis estimates the magnitude of that reduction for different types of crashes and for different types of vehicles.

Run-off-road (ROR) crashes, which usually involve only a single vehicle, contribute to a large portion of fatalities and serious injuries to motor vehicle occupants. In this study, the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) data collected at crash scenes between 2005 and 2007 is used to identify the ROR critical pre-crash event, assess the critical reason for the ROR critical event, and examine associated factors present in the pre-crash phase of the ROR crash. The effect of antilock brake system (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC) on ROR crashes is also evaluated.

This report highlights the major State-level accomplishments since 2005 in improving data systems used in traffic safety decision making. A nationwide assessment of traffic records system improvements solicited information from all NHTSA regions and all States plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. States were asked to report data quality improvement efforts taking place during the years following passage of the Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005. The project was designed to identify improvements in crash,...

This report examines the relationship between the blood alcohol concentration (BACs) of young drivers 16 to 20 years old and a comparison group (drivers 21 to 34) involved in fatal crashes and the following factors: restraint use, previous driving while intoxicated (DWI) conviction, driver license status, number of vehicles involved in the crash, speed limit, vehicle type, number of vehicle occupants, driver gender, time of day, day of week, holiday period, season, rural/urban status, and region of the country. Using NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data, the authors examined...

This report presents results from the 2010 National Occupant Protections use Survey (NOPUS) Controlled Intersection Study,

The purpose of this document is to inform users of NHTSA's fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (NASS GES) data about some of the more significant changes to the 2010 data as a result of the standardization of the data elements between the two systems.

This report is a statistical evaluation of the fatality- and injury-reducing effectiveness of the energy-absorbing materials in vehicles without head-protection air bags. (NHTSA previously evaluated the effectiveness of head-protection air bags in 2007.2) In one sense, this report evaluates a specific technological approach (energy-absorbing materials without air bags) that is already phasing out. But the energy-absorbing materials, themselves, will not be phasing out; they will continue to appear in new vehicles to protect occupants in crashes where the air bags do not deploy or perhaps at...