NCJ Number
233012
Date Published
January 2011
Length
47 pages
Annotation
Based on data obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), this report documents the characteristics of law enforcement officers' (LEO's) fatalities in motor vehicle crashes that occurred from 1980 to 2008.
Abstract
California recorded the highest number of LEO fatalities in motor vehicle crashes (107, 13 percent), followed by Texas (81, 9.8 percent), Georgia (43, 5.2 percent), New York (39, 4.7 percent), Alabama (36, 4.4 percent), Florida (35, 4.3 percent), and Tennessee (33, 4.0 percent). Crashes with LEO fatalities in passenger vehicles occurred more often between 8 pm and 4:59 am, and motorcycle crashes with LEO fatalities occurred mostly from noon to 3:59 pm. Fifty-five percent of passenger vehicle crashes that involved collisions with other vehicles in-transport, resulting in LEO fatalities, were angle crashes, followed by head-on crashes (27 percent), rear-end crashes (13 percent), and sideswipe crashes (5 percent). Motorcycle crashes with LEO fatalities involved mostly angle collisions (67 percent). Both head-on and rear-end collisions each accounted for 13 percent, and sideswipe 8 percent. Fifty-four percent of the passenger vehicle crashes with LEO fatalities occurred in rural areas and 46 percent in urban areas; however, 89 percent of the motorcycle crashes with LEO fatalities occurred in urban areas, and only 11 percent occurred in rural areas. Rollover as a subsequent event in LEO fatalities in passenger vehicles increased from 21 percent in the 1980s to 27 percent in the 1990s, and then to 31 percent in the 2000s. Data are also provided on point of impact on the vehicle, maneuver type at time of the crash, attempt to avoid the crash, use of restraint systems, air-bag deployment, ejection from the vehicle, and a comparison of the characteristics of fatalities in LEO and non-LEO passenger vehicle crashes. 18 tables, 24 figures, 4 references, and appended supplementary data