This report examines the status of motor vehicle traffic crashes as a leading cause of death by age and sex of the person. The data used in this report are based upon mortality data for the United States for the calendar year 1992 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). NCHS compiles information from a census of death certificate records furnished to NCHS by the fifty States, the District of Columbia, and the five boroughs of New York City. The NCHS data are used in this report to illustrate how motor vehicle crash deaths rank as a leading cause of death for all ages, for males and females separately, and for various age/sex categories. The number of deaths from motor vehicle traffic crashes obtained from NCHS are approximately 2% greater than that reported in FARS due to reporting differences. For persons ages 5-27, motor vehicle traffic crashes were the leading cause of death, representing 26% of all deaths in this age group and 36% of all motor vehicle traffic deaths that occurred in 1992. Among males, motor vehicle traffic deaths were the leading cause of death for ages 6-9, 11-18, and 20-22. For females, motor vehicle "traffic deaths were the leading cause of death for ages 5-28, representing 27% of all deaths for females in this age group and 34% of all female deaths in 1992. Motor vehicle traffic crashes in 1992 ranked 8th as a cause of death in the U. S., accounting for 39,985 deaths (1 .8% of all deaths). (Author/publisher)
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