DOI: 10.3886/e227901
title: Crash Report Sampling System

description: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has collected crash 
data since the early 1970s to support its mission to reduce motor 
vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths on our nation’s highways. The 
Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) builds on the retired, long-running 
National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (NASS GES).
 CRSS is a sample of police-reported crashes involving all types of 
motor vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists, ranging from 
property-damage-only crashes to those that result in fatalities. CRSS is
 used to estimate the overall crash picture, identify highway safety 
problem areas, measure trends, drive consumer information initiatives, 
and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of highway safety 
initiatives and regulations. NHTSA’s crash data collection program 
consists of CRSS, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the Crash 
Investigation Sampling System, Special Crash Investigations, Non-Traffic
 Surveillance, the Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network, and 
special studies conducted to address various safety topics.<br>Source: https://www.nhtsa.gov/crash-data-systems/crash-report-sampling-system<br><br>One of the primary objectives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is to reduce the human toll and property damage that motor vehicle traffic crashes inflict on our society. Crashes each year result in thousands of lives lost, hundreds of thousands of injured victims, and billions of dollars in property damage. Accurate data are required to support the development, implementation, and assessment of highway safety programs aimed at reducing this toll. NHTSA uses data from many sources, including the Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS). CRSS is a sample of police-reported crashes involving all types of motor vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists, ranging from property damage only crashes to those that result in fatalities. CRSS is used to estimate the overall crash picture, identify highway safety problem areas, measure trends, drive consumer information initiatives, and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of highway safety initiatives and regulations.<br>CRSS obtains its data from a nationally representative probability sample selected from the more than 6 million police-reported crashes that occur annually. Although various sources suggest that there are many more crashes that are not reported to the police, the majority of these unreported crashes involve only minor property damage and no significant personal injury. By restricting attention to police-reported crashes, CRSS concentrates on those crashes of greatest concern to the highway safety community and the general public.<br><br>Source: Crash Report Sampling System Analytical User’s Manual, 2016-2023<br><br><br><br>
description: See the included documentation "Crash Report Sampling System: Sample Design and Weighting - 812706.pdf"<br><br>
description: The following documents are included with the data and contain context on sampling.<br>"Crash Report Sampling System Analytical User’s Manual, 2016-2023 - 813707.pdf""Crash Report Sampling System: Sample Design and Weighting - 812706.pdf""Crash Report Sampling System: Design Overview, Analytic Guidance, and FAQs - 812688.pdf"<br><br>