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FARS Annual Report File and Final File

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The FARS Annual Report File is the data file for the most recent available year, which NHTSA says is subject to change when finalized the following year as the Final File. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System receives additional information between those file editions, and the Overview says that submissions requiring outside sources can change the final counts for a data year. The national table identifies the saved editions used for the traffic death figures, so a comparison of car accident data should preserve both the data year and the file edition.[1]

Contents

Official definition and data selection

The Annual Report File is not another name for the Final File, since the former is the most recent provisional edition and the latter is the later finalized version described by NHTSA. The Overview explains that the previous year's finalized counts are released with the newer year's provisional data, rather than requiring the older edition to remain the authoritative count indefinitely. The Annual Report File and Final File describe editions of the same fatal-crash census, not separate censuses of injury crashes and fatal car accidents or different units for counting people killed.[1]

National figures

The saved 2020 national file records 39,007 traffic deaths, using the Final File for this earlier year rather than treating its former Annual Report File as the current edition of these data. The saved 2021 national file records 43,230 traffic deaths, using the Final File for this earlier year rather than treating its former Annual Report File as the current edition of these data. The saved 2022 national file records 42,721 traffic deaths, using the Final File for this earlier year rather than treating its former Annual Report File as the current edition of these data.[2][3][4]

The saved 2023 national file records 41,025 traffic deaths, using the Final File for this earlier year rather than treating its former Annual Report File as the current edition of these data. The saved 2024 national file records 39,254 traffic deaths, using the Annual Report File for this latest year, which is subject to change when the later Final File is released. NHTSA reports that the 2023 Annual Report File counted 40,901 traffic deaths, while its Final File counted 41,025 deaths, illustrating an edition change for that data year.[5][6][1]

National figures[2][3][4][5][6]
YearPeople killed in traffic crashes
202039,007
202143,230
202242,721
202341,025
202439,254

United States, 50 states and District of Columbia, excluding Puerto Rico. 2024 uses the Annual Report File; earlier FARS years use saved Final Files.

Limits of the term and figures

The Annual Report File warning applies to the newest year shown, and comparisons should not silently mix an older provisional count with a later finalized count for the same data year. The Overview also documents amendments to the 2022 Final File rural and urban classifications, showing that a finalized edition can still receive an explicitly identified amendment to particular recorded categories. The Annual Report File label does not mean that the table counts police-reported nonfatal injuries, since those are estimated from a different national crash-data system rather than from this fatal-event census.[1]

On related publications

References

  1. abcd "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. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2020 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  3. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2021 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  4. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2022 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  5. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2023 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  6. ab "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2024 national data files (Annual Report File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record