Published by NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

DOT HS 810 780 A Brief Statistical Summary May 2007

Traffic Safety Facts

Crash • Stats

Major Findings

n	 The female fatalities in motor vehicle crashes accounted

for about one-third (32%) of total fatalities from 1996 to

2005. The number of females killed declined by an average 0.7 percent per year compared to an average 1.1

percent increase per year in female population.

n	 The fatalities among males from motor vehicle crashes

accounted for about two-thirds (68%) of the total fatalities

from 1996 to 2005. The number of males killed increased

by an average 0.8 percent per year compared to an average 1.3 percent rise per year in the male population.

n	 Overall, the data indicates fatalities among males in motor vehicle crashes and male population moved in the

same direction from 1996 through 2005, while female

fatalities and female population moved in the opposite

direction during the same period of time.

Data and Analysis

The purpose of this Crash Stats is to examine the trends

among female and male fatalities in motor vehicle crashes

from 1996 through 2005. The fatality data used in this report

are from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and

the population data from the Census Bureau. Figure 1 below

displays the trend data side by side allowing one to observe

the contrasting relationship between female and male fatalities and the population.

Comparison of Crash Fatalities by Gender and 

Year From 1996 to 2005

Figure 1 Scatter. Compares 10 pairs of fatality and population for females and males

129,500

131,600

133,700

135,800

137,900

140,000

142,100

144,200

146,300

148,400

150,500

13,050

13,160

13,270

13,380

13,490

13,600

13,710

13,820

13,930

14,040

14,150

Population (1,000)/Yr

27,500

27,765

28,030

28,295

28,560

28,825

29,090

29,355

29,620

29,885

30,150

Fatalities Number/Yr

Female '96

Female '98

Female '99

Female '00

Female '02

Female '03

Female '01

Female '04

Female '97

Female '05

Male '97

Male '00

Male '01

Male '02

Male '03

Male '04 Male '05

Male '99

Male '96

Male '98

The plot on the right hand side of Figure 1 indicates a positive relationship between the number of male fatalities and

population. The lower male population is associated with a

lower number of male fatalities in the earlier years. However, in latter years a higher male population is associated with

a higher number of male fatalities. The general pattern of the
Published by NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

For questions regarding the data reported in this publication, contact Dow Chang at 202-366-4128 or e-mail to dow.

chang@dot.gov. For additional copies of this publication,

Internet users may access this publication and other general information on highway traffic safety at www-nrd.

nhtsa.dot.gov/CATS

265,000

268,200

271,400

274,600

277,800

281,000

284,200

287,400

290,600

293,800

297,000

41,500

41,700

41,900

42,10042,300

42,50042,70042,90043,10043,300

43,500

Fatalities Number/Yr

Population (1,000)/Yr

Yr ‘96

Yr ‘97

Yr ‘98

Yr ‘99

Yr ‘00

Yr ‘01

Yr ‘02

Yr ‘03

Yr ‘04 Yr ‘05

points suggests that the overall relationship for male fatality and male population has a troubling positive trend from

1996 to 2005 (correlation coefficient r is -0.87 for females and 

0.95 for males).

The plot on the left portion of Figure 1 depicts a negative

relationship in which female fatality decreases as the female

population increases. A smaller female population is associated with a larger number of female fatalities during the

earlier years. The larger female population is associated with

a smaller number of female fatalities during the latter years.

Although all points are not on a straight line, the general pattern of the points suggests the overall relationship for female

fatality and female population has a negative trend over the

past 10 years.

The straight lines for the scatter diagrams on all figures are 

trend lines. They are the graph of the simple linearregression

equations generated by the least squares method with data

on Table 1. The trend line not only highlights the association

between fatalities and population, but also presents the moving direction of fatalities and population.

The overall population increased by an average 1.2 percent

per year during the 10-yeartime period whereas the fatalities

increased by an average 0.4 percent per yearto 43,443 in 2005

from 42,065 in 1996. This increase of total fatalities since 1996

is mainly because of an average 0.8 percent increase in male

fatalities per year. The relationship between total fatalities

and population is shown below in Figure 2 (r is 0.84).

Figure 2 Scatter. Compares 10 pairs of fatality and 

population for total

Table 1: Distribution of Crash Fatalities and Population by Gender and Year

Gender 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

% Change 

per Yr

Female Fatality Rate 10.3 10.3 10.0 9.8 9.3 9.1 9.2 9.1 9.0 8.7 -1.9

Male Fatality Rate 21.6 21.2 20.9 21.0 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.5 20.3 20.6 -0.5

Total Fatality Rate* 15.86 15.69 15.36 15.30 14.86 14.80 14.93 14.74 14.58 14.66 -0.9

Female Fatalities 13,962 14,139 13,863 13,647 13,363 13,174 13,502 13,512 13,358 13,058 -0.7

Male Fatalities 27,976 27,752 27,540 27,976 28,461 28,904 29,376 29,280 29,362 30,125 0.8

Total Fatalities* 42,065 42,013 41,501 41,717 41,945 42,196 43,005 42,884 42,836 43,443 0.4

Female Population 135,724 137,001 138,218 139,414 143,724 145,092 146,442 147,792 149,121 150,411 1.1

Male Population 129,504 130,783 132,030 133,277 138,470 140,016 141,542 143,058 144,535 146,000 1.3

Total Population 265,229 267,784 270,248 272,691 282,193 285,108 287,985 290,850 293,657 296,411 1.2

Source: FARS 1996-2004 (Final), 2005 (ARF); Population Census Bureau * Includes fatalities with gender unknown 

Population unit is per thousand people, Fatality rate (per 100,000) is Fatality Row divided by Population Row then multiply by 100

Table 1 below has the distribution of fatalities and population from 1996 through 2005 by gender. It shows female fatalities have decreased an average 0.7 percent per year. The

fatalities among males increased an average 0.8 percent per

year. Overall, the number of people killed has increased an

average 0.4 percent per year. This table also shows female

population increased an average 1.1 percent per year, and

male population increased an average 1.3 percent per year.

The total population has increased an average 1.2 percent per

year. Thus, we see the association of fatalities with the population as a trend.