Traffic safety facts 1997 : a compilation of motor vehicle crash data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System FARS and the General Estimates System GES.

In this annual report, `Traffic Safety Facts 1997: 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 seventies, 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 probably 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 of all seventies, including those that result in death, injury, or property damage. The next two sections provide a brief description of FARS and GES. Both systems were designed and developed by NHTSA's National Centre for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) to provide an overall measure of highway safety, to help identify traffic safety problems, to suggest solutions, and to help provide an objective basis on which to evaluate the effectiveness of motor vehicle safety standards and highway safety initiatives. Data from these systems are used to answer requests for information from the international and national highway traffic safety communities, including state and local governments, the Congress, Federal agencies, research organizations, industry, the media, and private citizens. Chapter 1, "Trends", presents data from all years of FARS (1975 through 1997) and GES (1988 through 1997). The remaining chapters present data only from 1997. 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.