In this annual report, `Traffic Safety Facts 1994 : A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatal Accident 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. Information from two of NHTSA's primary data systems has been combined to create a single source for motor vehicle crash statistics. The first data system, the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS), is the better known of the two sources. Established in 1975, FARS contains data on the most severe traffic crashes, those in which someone was killed. The second source is the National Accident Sampling System/General Estimates System (GES), which began operation in 1988. GES contains data from a nationally representative sample of police-reported crashes in all severities, including those that result in death, injury, or property damage. Chapter 1, "Trends", presents data from all years of FARS (1975 through 1994) and GES (1988 through 1994). The remaining chapters present data only from 1994. Chapter 2, "Crashes", describes general characteristics of crashes, such as when and how often they occurred, where they occurred, and what happened during the crash. Chapter 3, "Vehicles", concentrates on the types of vehicles involved in crashes, and the damage to the vehicles. Chapter 4, "People", is the largest chapter of this report, with statistics about drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and pedalcyclists. The last chapter of the report, "States", contains information about crashes for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Terms used throughout the report are defined in the Glossary.
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