Traffic Safety CD-ROM: 20 Years of U.S. Fatal Accident Data

A compilation of U.S. traffic safety data released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It includes 20 years (1975-1994) of Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) data and seven years (1988-1994) of General Estimates System data. The CD-ROM also contains summary information in the form of Traffic Safety Facts 1994 and 12 topical fact sheets from that year.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in fatal traffic accidents based on the 20-year FARS data series
• Comparing detailed fatal accident data with broader injury and damage estimates from the General Estimates System
• Reviewing summarized safety statistics and fact sheets for policy or public information purposes

Strengths

• Contains 20 years (1975-1994) of detailed fatal accident data from FARS
• Includes seven years (1988-1994) of broader accident estimates from the General Estimates System
• Provides curated summary documents (Traffic Safety Facts 1994 and 12 fact sheets)

Limitations

• Last updated 1994-12-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation

Collection Method

Compilation from Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) and General Estimates System data

Time Range

1975-1994 for FARS; 1988-1994 for General Estimates System

Freshness

1994-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

United States (implied by source agency)