Fatality Analysis Reporting System; Understanding Wrongful Death Crashes

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System or F.A.R.S. is a new tool in compiling and understanding data regarding fatal car and truck crashes. The National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration has developed this data base to assist the public in appreciating trends in the tragic area of traffic fatalities.

The volume and scope of the information available is staggering and use of F.A.R.S. takes a little practice. However, many trends previously reported here are demonstrated clearly through F.A.R.S.(http://www.maryland-law.com/library/analysis-of-maryland-car-accident-truck-crash-motorcycle-fatalities.cfm

The most obvious broad finding is the long term reduction in vehicle crash deaths. From 1994 to the present traffic fatalities have gone down. Why this is so is subject to some disagreement but clearly the increased prevalence of safety technologies including safety belts, airbags, anti-lock brakes and antiskid systems have been helpful. Perhaps, increased use of safetybelts has been a factor(see http://www.maryland-law.com/blog/seatbelt-use-and-motor-vehicle-crash-injuries.cfm).

Some less obvious findings include the fact that rollovers are four times as likely to occur in fatal crashes as in merely injurious crashes. Oddly, fatality rates for women are uniformly lower than for men but injury rates are higher.