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Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS)

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The Crash Report Sampling System is NHTSA's nationally representative sample of police-reported traffic crashes, used to estimate police-reported injury and property-damage-only crashes in the United States. CRSS replaced the National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System in 2016, according to NHTSA's Overview of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes in 2024, rather than replacing the fatal-crash census. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System counts qualifying fatal events, while the national Quick Facts injury figures combine information from the census and sampling system rather than only counting fatal car accidents.[1][2][3]

Contents

Official definition and data selection

The Crash Report Sampling System provides national estimates from a sample, so its injury totals are not a literal count of every injured person in all police reports across the country. The general-statistics table in NHTSA Quick Facts labels the injured-person figures as coming from FARS and CRSS, while the separate fatalities column cites the fatal-crash census. The Crash Report Sampling System comparison uses published injured-person estimates and separately labelled traffic death counts, preserving the difference between people injured and people killed rather than treating the measures as interchangeable.[1][2][3]

National figures

The published 2020 FARS and CRSS injured-person estimate is 2,282,209, alongside a separately measured FARS census total of 39,007 traffic deaths, with injury estimates distinguished from the people killed. The published 2021 FARS and CRSS injured-person estimate is 2,497,869, alongside a separately measured FARS census total of 43,230 traffic deaths, with injury estimates distinguished from the people killed. The published 2022 FARS and CRSS injured-person estimate is 2,382,833, alongside a separately measured FARS census total of 42,721 traffic deaths, with injury estimates distinguished from the people killed.[4][5][6][2][3]

The published 2023 FARS and CRSS injured-person estimate is 2,442,694, alongside a separately measured FARS census total of 41,025 traffic deaths, with injury estimates distinguished from the people killed. The published 2024 FARS and CRSS injured-person estimate is 2,422,195, alongside a separately measured FARS census total of 39,254 traffic deaths, with injury estimates distinguished from the people killed.[7][8][3]

National figures[4][5][6][7][8][2][3]
YearPeople injured (published estimate)People killed (FARS census)
20202,282,20939,007
20212,497,86943,230
20222,382,83342,721
20232,442,69441,025
20242,422,19539,254

United States, 50 states and District of Columbia, excluding Puerto Rico. 2024 uses the Annual Report File; earlier FARS years use saved Final Files. Injury estimates: 2020-2021 from Quick Facts 2022; 2022-2024 from Quick Facts 2024. Death figures use the saved FARS editions.

Limits of the term and figures

The Crash Report Sampling System covers police-reported events through its sampling design, not every unreported car accident, and a national estimate is not a statement about an individual injury claim. The injury figures for 2020 and 2021 come from Quick Facts 2022, while the figures for 2022 through 2024 come from Quick Facts 2024, with the source editions stated explicitly. CRSS estimates should not be presented as a census of nonfatal crashes, and the annual injury and death figures do not by themselves establish the cause of an individual car accident.[1][2][3]

On related publications

References

  1. abc "Overview of motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2024 (DOT HS 813 791, April 2026)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  2. abcde "Quick Facts 2022 (DOT HS 813 563)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  3. abcdef "Quick Facts 2024 (DOT HS 813 809)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  4. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2020 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  5. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2021 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  6. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2022 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  7. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2023 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  8. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2024 national data files (Annual Report File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record