National Center for Statistics & Analysis - Research & Development - 400 Seventh St. SW - Washington, DC 20590

Research Note

U.S. Department

of Transportation

National Highway

Traffic Safety

Administration

December 1996

Fatalities Associated With Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

From Motor Vehicles in 1993 

NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and by stationary vs. moving motor vehicles.

Analysis (NCSA) recently completed a study

of data from the National Center for Health

Statistics (NCHS) to obtain an estimate of

the number of persons killed as a result of

carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning by exhaust

gases of motor vehicles. This study focuses

on the extent to which moving, as opposed

to stationary, motor vehicles are involved in

CO poisoning deaths. In addition, the study

examined the proportion of accidental, i.e.,

unintentional CO deaths; the vehicle location

for accidental CO fatalities involving

stationary vehicles, and the season of the

year in which the greatest proportion of

accidental CO deaths occur. 

Data for calendar year 1993, the most recent

year of data available from NCHS, were

used in this study. NCHS obtains

information on the cause(s) of death, as

recorded on death certificates, from each of

the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and

the five boroughs of New York City.

A total of 2,086 fatalities occurred in 1993

as a result of CO poisoning. The majority of

these fatalities, 95%, involved stationary

motor vehicles. Almost 84% or 1,671 of the

CO fatalities involving stationary motor

vehicles were classified as intentional, or

suicide. For moving motor vehicles, this

pattern was reversed, i.e., all 108 of the CO

fatalities involving moving motor vehicles

were recorded as unintentional or accidental. 

Table 1 presents total CO fatalities in 1993,

Table 1

Fatalities Associated with

CO Poisoning in 1993

Total 2,086

Stationary 1,978 95%

Vehicles

Suicide 1,671 84%

Accidental 245 12%

Unknown 62 3%

Moving 108 5%

Vehicles

Suicide 0

Accidental 108 100%

The NCHS data indicated that 245 CO

fatalities involving stationary motor vehicles

were considered to be accidental. A CO

fatality involving a stationary vehicle was

one in which the death occurred either within

or outside of the vehicle in an enclosed area. 

The majority of the 245 fatalities occurred

with vehicles located at home, as opposed to

on a public roadway or in other locations. 

Table 2 presents the distribution of

accidental CO fatalities involving stationary

vehicles by location.

Table 2
National Center for Statistics & Analysis - Research & Development - 400 Seventh St. SW - Washington, DC 20590

Accidental CO Fatalities with Stationary Vehicles Table 3

 by Vehicle Location - 1993 All Accidental CO Fatalities in 1993

Vehicle Number of

Location Fatalities % of Total Number of

At Home 142 58%

On Public 9 4%

Roadway Winter 123 35%

Other 94 38% Spring 88 25%

Locations

Total 245 100%

For stationary and moving motor vehicles

combined, a total of 353 accidental CO

fatalities occurred in 1993. Of these 353

fatalities, the largest proportion, 35%, 

occurred during the winter months of

December, January, and February. Table 3

presents the distribution of accidental CO

fatalities in 1993 by season of occurrence.

by Season of Occurrence

Season Fatalities % of Total

Fall 95 27%

Summer 47 13%

Total 353 100%

For additional copies of this research note,

please call (202) 366-4198 or fax your

request to (202) 366-7078. For questions,

please contact Delmas Johnson of the

National Center of Statistics and Analysis, at

(202) 366-5382. This research note and

other general information on highway traffic

safety may be accessed by Internet users at

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/ncsa.