In this annual report, `Traffic Safety Facts 1998: 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. Fatal crash data from FARS and nonfatal crash data from GES are presented in this report in five chapters. Chapter 1, "Trends", presents data from all years of FARS (1975 through 1998) and GES (1988 through 1998). The remaining chapters present data only from 1998. Chapter 2, "Crashes", describes general characteristics of crashes, such as when and how often 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. (A)
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