U.S. Fatal Crash Data with Alcohol Safety Law Variables, 1982-1997

A study dataset analyzes the relationship between three alcohol safety laws and the proportion of drinking drivers in fatal crashes. The data covers 16 years from 1982 to 1997 for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, sourced from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The analysis was conducted by Robert B. Voas of the Institute for Research and Evaluation and includes variables like per-capita alcohol consumption and annual vehicle miles traveled.

Use Cases

• Modeling the effect of administrative license revocation laws on fatal crash rates based on state-level data.
• Analyzing trends in drinking drivers with BAC levels of .01-.09 and .10+ based on the 16-year time series.
• Evaluating the combined impact of multiple alcohol safety laws over time as described in the study.
• Correlating per-capita alcohol consumption and vehicle miles traveled with alcohol-related fatal crashes.

Strengths

• Data covers a 16-year time range from 1982 to 1997.
• Includes observations from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
• Study design separates drivers by age (21+) and two distinct BAC level groups.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the 1982-1997 study period.

Provenance

Source

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)

Collection Method

Analysis of reported fatal crash data linked to law passage dates.

Time Range

1982 to 1997

Geography

United States (all 50 states and District of Columbia)