Streetsblog recently had a post featuring "a map of every traffic fatality in the U.S. between 2004 and 2013, using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)." They entitled it "Every Traffic Fatality in the US Mapped." Sadly, that's not true. It isn't EVERY traffic fatality mapped. It's probably as close as one can get without a lot of sleuthing, but there are limits to FARS data that means that some traffic fatalities aren't included. Between 2005-2013, in the DC area, there have been 34 cyclist fatalities reported in FARS.
First of all, FARS only includes traffic fatalities that involve a motor vehicle. That means that single bike crashes like this or this aren't counted. Nor are cyclists or pedestrians who are killed in bike-ped, bike-train or bike-bike crashes (etc...). In the DC area from 2005-2013 there are another 13 such bike related deaths, 10 of them cyclists.
FARS also doesn't include fatal crashes on trails or in parking lots or on private roads - even if they do involve a motor vehicle. I don't know of any such crashes in the DC area. NHTSA tries to track them as part of their non-traffic crashes tracking (though they don't appear to break them out by person type).
The nontraffic motor vehicle crashes are a class of crashes that occur off the public traffic ways. These crashes, subsequently referred to as “nontraffic crashes,” are mostly single-vehicle crashes on private roads, two-vehicle crashes in parking facilities, or collisions with pedestrians on driveways. Then there are also noncrash incidents such as a vehicle falling on a person underneath or unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning. Both nontraffic crashes and noncrash incidents have the potential to kill or injure people. Nevertheless, the information on neither of these was available until 2007, when Congress required National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to start collecting and maintaining information pertinent to these events. Complying with the directive, the NHTSA designed and implemented a virtual data collection system, NiTS that would provide counts and details of the fatalities and injuries to people involved in nontraffic crashes and noncrash incidents. This Crash•Stats focuses only on nontraffic crashes and presents some salient statistics about occupants and nonoccupants killed and injured in such crashes during 2008–2011.
On an average, 1,621 people were killed each year in nontraffic motor vehicle crashes during the four year period, 2008 to 2011. About 39 percent of these people were nonoccupants such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
Then there are crashes that do involve cars that just, for whatever reason, are not reported. For example, it doesn't seem that the Park Police or other federal police departments report FARS data, and other crashes - like this one - just fail to be reported in FARS for unknown reasons. Between 2005-2013 in the DC area there were 5 such fatal bike crashes.
Finally, there are people who suffer bicycle injuries and but then don't die from them until years later.
So FARS data, while being the best data set out there and the one used for the annual report on bicycle fatalities, is drastically under reporting bicycle fatalities. If my very limited analysis of 7 jurisdictions is representative of the entire United States, FARS is only capturing about 70% of fatal bike crashes. Which means that the annual number of about 700 fatal bike crashes that NHTSA reports each year should really be more like 1000.
If that isn't depressing enough, there were another 5 fatalities during that time that were health related, and two that were the result of crime.
I suspect car and pedestrian fatalities are also under-reported, though not similarly for cars - since fatal single car crashes are reported.
NYC, by the way, has been required to keep track of and report on bike-bike and bike-ped crashes since 2012. Perhaps FARS should expand to include those, (and make all law enforcement agencies - even the Park Police - file reports on all fatalities).
One last thing to consider, while looking through 2013 data, I found a FARS report of a bicycle fatality on October 3, 2013. It was on Pennsylvania Avenue (SR-4) at Marlboro-Ritchie Road and I can't find any report of it in the media. (According to the FARS report, the cyclist crossed illegally (jaywalking)). Having a crash reported in FARS, but not in the media, happens from time to time. If there are some fatalities that are only reported in FARS and others that are only reported in the media, it stands to reason that there are some fatal bike crashes - not very many I suppose - that are neither reported in FARS or the media. This is probably most likely in crashes where the victim dies more than 30 days after the crash, but probably happens even when that isn't true.
Great post. We need a process that ensures more consistent data collection and reporting!
Posted by: scoot | November 19, 2015 at 11:13 AM
We do need a better, more coordinated reporting process--hard to measure progress (or the lack of it) with poor or incomplete data. However, the data available show one thing that too many people don't seem to realize: a ridiculous number of people die (373,377 in 10 years!) as a result of car crashes in this country. As painful as viewing the traffic fatality map was, I felt it was a great tool that more people need to see. The Atlantic, CityPaper, and Post all picked it up, which is positive.
Maybe "Every FARS-Reported Traffic Fatality in the U.S. Mapped" didn't have quite the ring to it.
Posted by: DE | November 19, 2015 at 02:02 PM
It's more than that. That's just "Traffic Crashes". There are another 16,000 non-traffic crashes every 10 years. And then there are all the other non-reported car deaths.
Posted by: washcycle | November 19, 2015 at 02:28 PM
Right, I meant the number reported through the map. Your article established that there were many missed.
Posted by: DE | November 19, 2015 at 03:14 PM
Great post. You can't have proper policy without proper data. I'd like to see FARS collect all the data, including those that occur off road. I assume that most of those occur with vehicles that can operate on the road, and the cause of the accident may be relevant to road-related safety. e.g. GPS errors leading people onto bike paths could also lead people the wrong way down one-way streets.
Also, if a car goes off the road and kills a pedestrian on the sidewalk, is that FARS reported or not.
It makes sense for FARS to collect all the data, then have it used by other agencies.
Posted by: SJE | November 19, 2015 at 04:28 PM
This report is about pedestrians, but talks about the same kinds of problems:
8% of the reported pedestrian deaths in the state database, which are reported to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), were in violation of the definitions specified by NHTSA
– 15% of the pedestrian deaths reported in 2012 do not meet the publically understood definition of a pedestrian as a person traveling by foot
– There are many opportunities for errors in the data to be introduced, from the crash scene to the reporting system to the public databases. This affects efforts to improve safety at crash locations
– There are concerns over incomplete or inconsistent police reports, as officers sometimes lack tools and training to fully investigate the collision and therefore leave out important crash details
http://njbikeped.org/portfolio/new-jersey-pedestrian-crash-causation-report-released-road-infrastructure-contributes-pedestrian-fatalities-new-jersey/
Posted by: JJJ | November 20, 2015 at 12:42 AM
There was an obituary I read not too long ago of some notable person who died from head trauma suffered several years ago in a bicycle-car crash. It's driving me crazy because I can't recall who it was. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's not counted by NHTSA.
Posted by: washcycle | November 20, 2015 at 01:08 AM
This is the same problem that the Feds have with collecting other data: its so dependent on local authorities. With certain diseases we have reporting requirements, but for other causes of death its highly dependent. e.g. in the wake of Ferguson, last year the Washington Post started tracking police-involved shootings by scanning news reports. They came up with more than twice the FBI's official numbers.
Posted by: SJE | November 20, 2015 at 10:11 AM