NCJ Number
239912
Date Published
January 2011
Length
47 pages
Annotation
Using data for 1980 to 2008 from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) - which is currently the only database with detailed information on the fatal motor vehicle crashes involving law enforcement officers (LEOs) - this report presents data on such crashes' regional distribution, crash level, vehicle level, and person level.
Abstract
Data were obtained for 772 crashes that involved at least 1 LEO's fatality, at the vehicle level for 776 police vehicles involved in such fatal crashes and at the person level for 823 LEOs killed in motor vehicle crashes. California recorded the highest number of LEO fatalities in motor vehicle crashes, followed by Texas, Georgia, New York, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. The LEO-fatality crashes in passenger vehicles occurred more often during dark hours (8 p.m. to 4:59 a.m.), and LEO fatalities on motorcycles occurred mostly during daylight hours (noon to 3:59 p.m.). Rollover as a subsequent event accounted for 17 percent of the police passenger vehicle fatality crashes in the 1980s, increased to 20 percent in the 1990s, and to 26 percent in the 2000s. Of the LEOs killed in passenger-vehicle crashes, 28 percent used restraint systems in the 1980s and restraint-system use increased to 56 percent in the 1990s. Recent data show that restraint-system use in LEO fatality crashes decreased to 50 percent. Air bags deployed in 56 percent of the LEO fatalities in passenger vehicles in the 2000s, which is a 29-percent increase from 27 percent in the 1990s. From 1980 to 2008, 19 percent of LEOs killed in passenger vehicle crashes were ejected from the vehicle. From 2000 to 2008, the LEO and non-LEO fatality crashes involved substantial differences on a range of characteristics. 24 figures, 21 tables, and 4 references