Crash Data

We have many resources that can be used with crash data. If you don’t see what you need, please feel free to contact us.

Data Analysis Tools

CMISST Data GUI

The CMISST Data GUI allows users to study and manipulate different datasets, including FARS, NASS, many state crash data sets. FARS 2009 is available as a sample for users who are not yet affiliated with CMISST.

Data Query Tool

The Michigan Crash Facts Data Query Tool allows users to build queries of motor vehicle crashes, then view the results on a map, in a table, or on a graph. Users may also download subsets of the data and the actual (sanitized) police reports. Build a query

FARS Variable History Lookup

The FARS variable history lookup tool tracks changes in the names of variables and their values over time. Currently the tool is populated with information from 1975 through 2009. Try it out

UTMOST

The Unified Theory Mapping Opportunities for Safety Technology (UTMOST) model was developed to aid in visualizing the effects of safety countermeasures and combinations of countermeasures. As UTMOST is updated and expanded, it will be used to identify how safety countermeasures interact, how they affect the crash population, and whether one or more technologies offer the greatest benefit. UTMOST

Public Datasets

The datasets for Buses and Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents are available for free public use.
Buses Involved in Fatal Accidents (BIFA)
Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents (TIFA)

Database Resources

Available Crash Datasets

NASS: 1979-1987 NASS CDS: 1988-2011 NASS GES: 1988-2010 FARS: 1975-2011 States: Datasets are available for numerous states spanning many years. For a list of all available datasets, click here

Sample Dataset Analysis

Michigan Crash Fatality Trends

Figure 1. Long-range (left) and recent-years (right) views of Michigan crash fatalities over the last 50 years. The black line shows the year-to-year rise and fall in total fatalities. The green and red lines show two models of the underlying trends. Figure 1 shows the behavior of Michigan crash fatalities over the time period of 1940 to 2010 (on the left) and focused on 1999-2010 (on the right). The black lines are the observed fatalities for each year while the green line indicates the trend observed over this time period. Looking at the trend line, we can see that 2010 was actually quite close to the expected number of fatalities whereas 2009 is extremely atypical, particularly as the variations from year to year appear to be much smaller in the past decade than in previous decades. View the Full Report

Best Practices

Using Crash Datasets
Data Collaboration and Linking
Collecting Crash Data