According to early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2023 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in September, 2023, an estimated 19,515 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a decrease of 3.3% as compared to the 20,190 fatalities in the first half of 2022. "After spiking during the pandemic, traffic deaths are continuing to slowly come down—but we still have a long way to go,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
The traffic safety data for people walking and biking is also concerning. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) February 2024 report, "Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: January - June 2023 Preliminary Data" projects that drivers struck and killed at least 3,373 between January and June of 2023 an approximately 4% decrease from the same period the prior year. While this is a welcome change from the tragic increase over the years, this is still a substantial increase over pre-pandemic years - 422 more pedestrians died in 2023 than in the first half of 2019 (a 14 percent increase). For people biking, NHTSA reports that in 2021, there were 966 bicyclist fatalities, which accounted for 2.2% of all traffic fatalities for the year.
Accessing crash data plays an important role in assessing the safety needs and concerns for people walking and biking in our communities. Explore the tools and links below for accessing National and California crash data, resources, tools, and statistics.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
NHTSA provides a wide range of analytical and statistical support to the highway safety community, including the following crash data systems:
- Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS)
- Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS)
- Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
- National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)
- Special Crash Investigations (SCI)
- Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS)
Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS)
The Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) has been developed by UC Berkeley SafeTREC's GIS Program team to provide quick, easy and free access to California crash data that has been geo-coded to make it easy to map out crashes and even view the locations in Google Street View.
The following tools are currently available on TIMS:
- SWITRS Summary
- DUI Crash Summary and Map
- Weekly Crash Trends
- SWITRS Query & Map
- SWITRS GIS Map
- California Safety Performance Measure Target Setting
- Crash Diagram
- Safe Routes to School Map
- ATP Maps & Summary Data
- Motorcycle Crash Map
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SWITRS Summary The SWITRS Statewide Summary is a tool for accessing and mapping statewide crash and injury data from the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS). The following data can be queried and viewed in tables:
Users may query cities or counties, and may view 3 or 5 years of the most recent data available. Data is updated quarterly. |
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DUI Crash Summary and Map Explore alcohol- and drug-related crash and injury trends, both statewide and in a county or city area. |
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Weekly Crash Trends This tool can be used to visualize weekly fatal and injury crashes on state highways in California. The tool can be used to monitor the frequency and type of crashes that occur on a weekly basis for recent years. |
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| SWITRS Query & Map A basic tool for accessing fatal or injury crashes from the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS). |
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| SWITRS GIS Map The SWITRS Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Map tool offers an interactive map with the capability of multiple tasks including Rank by Intersection, Crash Diagram, etc. |
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California Safety PM Target Setting Supporting Tool The California Safety Performance Management (Safety PM) Target Setting Support Tool is based on FARS, SWITRS, and HPMS data. |
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Crash Diagram The Crash Diagram tool allows users to generate an interactive crash diagram. The Crash Diagram is accessible through SWITRS GIS Map. |
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| Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Map The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Map provides a pedestrian and bicycle crash map within a half mile radius of public schools in California. |
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ATP Maps & Summary Data The ATP Maps & Summary Data tool utilizes multiple crash maps to find pedestrian and bicycle crash hot spots and generates data summaries within specified project and/or community limits. |
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Motorcycle Crash Map The Motorcycle Crash Map provides a simple means to explore motorcycle crashes in California by selected county and/or city. |
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To use the site, simply create an account and log in using the password that will be instantly emailed to your inbox.
California Traffic Safety Dashboard
The California Traffic Safety Dashboard is a series of tools designed by UC Berkeley SafeTREC to allow users to visualize crash data and traffic safety activities in conjunction with demographics in California. The Traffic Safety and Equity Overview Tool consists of a series of dashboards that allow users to access both detailed crash and demographic information on the region of choice while also ranking different geographic regions by various fatality and serious injury metrics. The Safety Heat Map allows for a more detailed analysis by creating interactive heat maps utilizing crash and demographic data as well as traffic safety improvement activities in California. Finally, the OTS Grants Clearinghouse serves as a platform where California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) officials and grantees can access historical grant data.
The following Tools are currently available:
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Traffic Safety and Equity Overview
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Safety Heat Map
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OTS Grants Clearinghouse
California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS)
OTS Crash Rankings
The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Crash Rankings were developed so that individual cities could compare their city’s traffic safety statistics to those of other cities with similar-sized populations. Cities could use these comparisons to see what areas they may have problems in and which they were doing well in. The results helped both cities and OTS identify emerging or on-going traffic safety problem areas in order to help plan how to combat the problems and help with the possibility of facilitating grants. In recent years, media, researchers and the public have taken an interest in the OTS Rankings. It should be noted that OTS rankings are only indicators of potential problems; there are many factors that may either understate or overstate a city/county ranking that must be evaluated based on local circumstances.
OTS Data and Statistics Resources
- California Traffic Safety Quick Stats (Fast Facts)
- California Fatality and Injury Statistics (SWITRS)
- National Traffic Research and Analysis (NCSA)
- California Department of Motor Research Studies and Reports
- California Demographic, Economic, and Financial Research (DOF)
- National Transportation Statistics
- California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Traffic Safety Resources
California Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) Crash Data Dashboard
Caltrans has developed the California SHSP Crash Data Dashboard to provide SHSP implementers with direct access to crash data. The dashboard allows for filtering of the number and characteristics of fatal and serious injury crashes over the last 10 years. Some filtering options include:
- SHSP Challenge Area
- Crash Severity
- Location: District, County, Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and City
- Crash Cause
- Crash Time
- Crash Party and Victim Demographics
NEW:
- As of Spring 2023, provisional data, also known as unfinalized data, is now available in the SHSP Crash Data Dashboard. This is meant to provide traffic safety stakeholders access to crash data sooner than has been traditionally available. Learn more in the Spring 2023 SHSP E-Newsletter.
- In the Spring 2022 SHSP E-Newsletter, Caltrans noted that in coordination with the Native American Advisory Committee (NAAC) and through geocoding efforts of University of California Berkeley SafeTREC, a filter was added to the tabs of the SHSP Crash Data Dashboard to allow all data to be filtered by whether a fatal or serious injury crash was within 5 miles of a tribal boundary.
Learn more about the Strategic Highway Safety Plan and the SHSP Crash Data Dashboard.