Passenger vehicles are defined as motor vehicles weighing less than 10,000 pounds and include passenger cars and light trucks (SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and other light trucks). In this fact sheet for 2015, the information on passenger vehicles is presented as follows: - Overview; - Registration Data Changes; - Occupant Fatalities and Occupant Fatality Rates; - Occupants Injured and Occupant Injury Rates; - Restraint Use; - Ejection; - Rollover Crashes; - Two-Vehicle Crashes Between a Passenger Car and a Light Truck; - Alcohol; - Occupant Fatalities by State; and - Appendix. This fact sheet contains information on fatal motor vehicle crashes and fatalities, based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). FARS is a census of fatal crashes in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico is not included in U.S. totals). Crash and injury statistics are based on data from the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Estimates System (GES). The NASS GES is a probability-based sample of police-reported crashes, from 60 locations across the country, from which estimates of national totals for injury and property-damage-only crashes are derived. In 2015: - There were 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants who died in traffic crashes and an estimated 2.18 million passenger vehicle occupants who were injured. - Passenger vehicles made up 93 percent of registered vehicles and accounted for 90 percent of total vehicle miles travelled (VMT). - An estimated 11,070,000 vehicles were involved in police-reported traffic crashes; 96 percent (10,656,000) were passenger vehicles. - There were 44,886 vehicles involved in fatal crashes, of which 78 percent (38,209) were passenger vehicles. Key Findings: • In 2015 there were 22,144 passenger vehicle occupants who died in motor vehicle traffic crashes and an estimated 2.18 million passenger vehicle occupants who were injured. • Among the passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2015 in motor vehicle traffic crashes, 56 percent were passenger car occupants and 44 percent were light-truck occupants. • Passenger vehicles made up 93 percent of registered vehicles and accounted for 90 percent of total vehicle miles travelled in 2015. There were 44,886 vehicles involved in fatal crashes in 2015, of which 78 percent (38,209) were passenger vehicles. • Occupant fatality rates per 100,000 registered vehicles from 2014 to 2015 increased 4 percent for both passenger cars and light trucks. Among light-truck categories, occupant fatality rates increased for vans (11%), SUVs (4%), and pickup trucks (3%). • Eighty percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were totally ejected from vehicles were killed in fatal crashes in 2015. • Among passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2015, the percentage of fatalities in rollover crashes was highest for SUVs (49%), followed by pickup trucks (43%), vans (28%), and passenger cars (23%). • When a passenger car and a light truck hit head-on in 2015, an occupant was 3.1 times more frequently to be killed in the passenger car than in the light truck. • Drivers of pickup trucks had the highest percentage of alcohol impairment in fatal crashes (22%) compared to other passenger vehicle drivers (21% for passenger cars, 20% for SUVs, and 10% for vans) in 2015. (Author/publisher)
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