About Our Data
We gather and analyze data from traffic tickets, police crash reports, court records and many other official sources.
Traffic Research and Data Center (TDRC)
In our Traffic Research & Data Center (TRDC), we analyze crash data and prepare research studies on key traffic safety issues.
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
We also provide data on fatal crashes in Washington to the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
We analyze the official records on each fatal crash, including:
- Traffic crash reports from law enforcement agencies
- State driver licensing and vehicle registration files
- Death certificates
- Toxicology reports
- Emergency medical services reports
FARS requires data on more than 100 aspects of a crash, the vehicles, and the people involved.
Agency distinctions in traffic fatalities
Sometimes the statistics that FARS reports for Washington in a given year vary slightly from statistics reported by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The following table explains the differences in the two reporting systems.
| Agency Distinctions in Traffic Fatalities | ||
| Topic | WSDOT Data | FARS Data |
| “Catastrophic” Events | Includes any naturally-occurring event, e.g., rockslide or falling trees, that results in a fatality within the trafficway. | Excludes any crashes occurring as a direct result of or during a “cataclysmic” event. |
| Driveway | Considered to be “private” and therefore excluded. | Considered to be “private” and therefore excluded. |
| Driveway – Related | WSDOT includes these because of “intent to enter/exit.” | FARS includes these because of “intent to enter/exit.” |
| Private Way – Related | Does not include cases where crash occurred more than 20 feet from trafficway. | Includes these cases when no barrier to public access exists. |
| Non-Motorized Vehicle in Transport | Includes non-motorist fatal crashes not involving a motor vehicle but occurring within the trafficway, e.g., a skateboarder colliding with a utility pole or a bicyclist hitting a curb. | Does not include these non-motorist fatalities because they do not involve a motor vehicle in transport. |
| Fetus-Involved | If a pregnant woman is involved in a collision and her infant is born during or as a result of that collision and subsequently dies, WSDOT will include that infant as a fatality. | If a pregnant woman is involved in a collision and her infant is born during or as a result of that collision and subsequently dies, FARS does not include that infant as a fatality. |
| Parking Lots | Check w/ WSDOT/ WSP | Parking lot stalls or aisles are not trafficways and FARS does not count fatal crashes that occur in them. Parking lot ways, used for vehicular circulation within parking lots and vehicular access to parking lot aisles, are traffic ways; FARS counts traffic fatalities occurring in them. |
Complex research question? Contact us.
Program Contact
Dick Doane – Research Investigator
360.725.9894 ddoane@wtsc.wa.gov
Kristal Rust – Research Analyst
360.725.9893 krust@wtsc.wa.gov
Mimi Nickerson – Research Analyst (FARS)
360.725.9892 mnickerson@wtsc.wa.gov
Terry Ponton – Research Analyst (FARS)
360.725.9891 tponton@wtsc.wa.gov
