Book Description

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) formerly referred to as the Fatal Accident Reporting System, is a collection of files documenting all qualifying fatal crashes since 1975 that occurred within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. To be included in this census of crashes, a crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public, and must result in the death of a person (occupant of a vehicle or a nonmotorist) within 30 days of the crash. The purpose of this document is to provide an analytic reference to individuals who wish to conduct crash and vehicle research using the FARS data. Since 1975 a comprehensive coding manual has been produced each year. The coding manual provides a set of written instructions to every FARS analyst on how to transfer the data from a police accident/crash report (PAR) to the FARS system. Since 1975, FARS has undergone several changes. To augment the coding manual, classes are held each year to train the coders and a system wide FARS meeting is held to encourage uniform coding for later analysis. By default the coding manual has taken on an additional role: an aid to the analytic researcher. When doing longitudinal analysis (analysis across several years) to ensure accuracy, each variable of interest must be checked in each year's coding manual. Often experience with the system helps with the research, but errors are still possible. An unsuspecting analyst might assume that if one had a complete set of coding manuals and sufficient diligence, one could produce the desired results. Unfortunately, the data in the current files available for analysis do not correspond with the historical coding manuals. This is especially true for the early years of the program.