One of the primary objectives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is to reduce the staggering human toll and property damage that motor vehicle traffic crashes impose on our society. Crashes each year result in thousands of lives lost, hundreds of thousands of injured victims, and billions of dollars in property damage. Accurate data are required to support the development, implementation, and assessment of highway safety programs aimed at reducing this toll. NHTSA uses data from many sources, including the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) which began operation in 1975. Providing data about fatal crashes involving all types of vehicles, the FARS is used to identify highway safety problem areas, provide a basis for regulatory and consumer information initiatives, and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of highway safety initiatives. FARS is a census of fatal motor vehicle crashes with a set of data files documenting all qualifying fatalities that occurred within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico since 1975. To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public, and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash. The purpose of this analytical guide is to introduce the historical coding practices of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) from 1975 to 2011. In other words, this guide presents the evolution of FARS coding from inception through 2011. The compilation of FARS data for three decades has been an outstanding accomplishment. These data store valuable information that have been preserved over time and are available for present and future use. This analytical user’s manual should help improve the usefulness and accessibility of the FARS data. With the exception of personal notes, there is no reason to keep older versions of this reference guide. All information in earlier editions has been retained in this newer version. (Author/publisher) For the complete report, DOT HS 811 693, see http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811693.pdf
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