Vital Signs: Fatalities From Crashes By County (2022) DRAFT

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Fatalities From Crashes (EN4) FULL MEASURE NAME Fatalities from Crashes (traffic collisions) LAST UPDATED October 2022 DESCRIPTION Fatalities from crashes refers to deaths as a result of fatalities sustained in collisions. The California Highway Patrol includes deaths within 30 days of the collision that are a result of fatalities sustained as part of this metric. This total fatalities dataset includes fatality counts for the region and counties, as well as individual collision data and metropolitan area data. DATA SOURCE National Highway Safety Administration: Fatality Analysis Reporting System - https://www.nhtsa.gov/file-downloads?p=nhtsa/downloads/FARS/ 1990-2020 Caltrans: Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) - https://dot.ca.gov/programs/research-innovation-system-information/highway-performance-monitoring-system Annual Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) 2001-2020 California Department of Finance: E-4 Historical Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State - https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/ 1990-2020 US Census Population and Housing Unit Estimates - https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html 1990-2020 CONTACT INFORMATION [e-mail] METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Fatalities from crashes data is reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) program. Data for individual collisions is reported by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS). The data was tabulated using provided categories specifying injury level, individuals involved, causes of collision and location/jurisdiction of collision (for more information refer to the SWITRS codebook - http://tims.berkeley.edu/help/files/switrs_codebook.doc). For case data, latitude and longitude information for each accident is geocoded by SafeTREC’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS). Fatalities were normalized over historic population data from the US Census Bureau’s population estimates and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data from the Federal Highway Administration. The crash data only include crashes that involved a motor vehicle. Bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities that did not involve a motor vehicle, such as a bicyclist and pedestrian collision or a bicycle crash due to a pothole, are not included in the data. For more regarding reporting procedures and injury classification, refer to the CHP Manual - https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/ca_chp555_manual_2_2003_ch1-13.pdf.