This paper uses data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to determine the number and characteristics of motor vehicle crash deaths related to police pursuits in the United States. The researchers compared pursuit-related fatality and crash data from two databases, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the Crashworthiness Data System for the years 1994-2002. Results showed that there were 2,654 fatal crashes involving 3,965 vehicles and 3,146 fatalities during the nine-year period. A total of 1,088 of these fatalities were to people not in the fleeing vehicle. These crashes often occurred at high speed, at night, and on local roads. Most of the pursued drivers had prior motor vehicle-related convictions. These findings suggest that alternative means of detaining these pursued drivers should be explored in order to reduce the fatalities to innocent victims during police pursuits.
Abstract