Car Crash Data – what good is it?

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Locations Cities and Towns (click to see) Zones NJ Route 22 Central (Zone) NJ Route 22 West (Zone) NJ Route 22 East (Zone) Roads Route 22 Route 28 Route 31 Route 57 Route 78 Route 173 Route 202 Route 206 Route 287 Counties Essex County, NJ Hunterdon County, NJ Middlesex County, NJ Morris County, NJ Somerset County, NJ Union County, NJ Warren County, NJ

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Home » Be Prepared

Here we go again with misleading “data.” Based on the following 2018 data released by the NHTSA – it appears that most of the tri-state area is “easy traveling,” when you consider fatal accidents.

Sure, that traffic “data” might lead you to some conclusions – you never get the real story with raw data like this. It’s not sufficient enough!

Like why does the L.A. area have the highest fatalities – when they seem to be in a state of perpetual traffic jams? Aren’t people moving slower?

Or how does population density work? Why isn’t there a filter on this map to also rank fatalities per 100,000 trips? Or demographics? Or illegal alien status? Or valid drivers licenses? Or criminal history?

This is exactly why “data modeling” is over-hyped, and should only be used as a very minor tool when looking for insights. You might now wonder why social media companies know everything about you – and why you should cut the cord.

The map below shows the total number of motor vehicle deaths for every county in the United States, as reported by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Counties that are grey had no reported fatalities in 2018. Hover over any county on the map to see the total fatalities in that county.

Map created by Wendt Law Firm

Rank

COUNTY

STATE

2018 Fatals

2017 Fatals

Inc/Dec

2017 Rank

Los Angeles County

CALIFORNIA

670

658

1.82%

Maricopa County

ARIZONA

490

471

4.03%

Harris County

TEXAS

389

456

-14.69%

San Bernardino County

298

294

1.36%

Dallas County

295

287

2.79%

Miami-Dade County

FLORIDA

293

285

2.81%

Riverside County

292

282

3.55%

Cook County

ILLINOIS

264

271

-2.58%

San Diego County

255

231

10.39%

Broward County

237

225

5.33%

Clark County

NEVADA

220

208

5.77%

Palm Beach County

182

190

-4.21%

Bexar County

181

189

-4.23%

Orange County

177

-2.75%

176

180

-2.22%

Hillsborough County

178

-1.12%

Tarrant County

169

172

-1.74%

Wayne County

MICHIGAN

164

0.00%

Shelby County

TENNESSEE

158

162

-2.47%

Kern County

144

161

-10.56%

Duval County

143

156

-8.33%

Sacramento County

134

151

-11.26%

Suffolk County

NEW YORK

132

130

1.54%

Pinellas County

122

6.56%

Fulton County

GEORGIA

121

7.44%

Pima County

125

120

4.17%

Polk County

123

118

4.24%

Travis County

116

1.72%

King County

WASHINGTON

115

0.87%

Mecklenburg County

NORTH CAROLINA

114

0.88%

Fresno County

113

-0.88%

Santa Clara County

111

-1.77%

Marion County

INDIANA

109

-1.80%

DeKalb County

108

-2.70%

San Joaquin County

107

-3.60%

Volusia County

106

-0.93%

Philadelphia County

PENNSYLVANIA

103

-3.74%

Pasco County

105

-5.71%

Prince George’s County

MARYLAND

102

-6.86%

Lee County

-5.05%

Bernalillo County

NEW MEXICO

-7.07%

Jefferson County

ALABAMA

Franklin County

OHIO

-5.26%

Jackson County

MISSOURI

-5.32%

El Paso County

-4.40%

Brevard County

-5.56%

Oklahoma County

OKLAHOMA

New Haven County

CONNECTICUT

-3.41%

Baltimore County

-1.16%

-2.33%

Los Angeles County was home to the most motor vehicle fatalities in 2018, with 670 fatalities – a 1.82% increase from 2017. This is not surprising: LA County is not only the most populous county in the state of California, but the most populous county in the nation, with more than 10 million people residing within county lines. That, plus the robust, busy network of highways and freeways, increase the likelihood of higher numbers of fatal crashes.

Maricopa County in Arizona ranks second with 490 total traffic fatalities in 2018. Home to the Phoenix major metropolitan area, Maricopa County is an unfortunate surprise on this list. In 2018, the state of Arizona had 1,010 traffic fatalities – a high number, but far from the top five states with the highest number of fatalities. By comparison, California had 3,563 traffic fatalities – more than three times as many as Arizona. Although Maricopa County is the fourth most populous county in the United States, it has less than half the population of Los Angeles County – with 75% of the total fatalities. This is a serious cause for concern in Arizona, and warrants a serious evaluation of the traffic safety measures in place in Maricopa County.

Harris County in Texas ranks third with 389 traffic fatalities in 2018. Home to the vast Houston metropolitan area, Harris County is the third most populous county in the United States. Interestingly, Harris County had the largest year-over-year decrease in fatalities on this list, having nearly 15% less traffic deaths in 2018 than in the year before. Despite that, it maintained its 2017 rank at third place.

Jackson County ranks on this list as well, in 44th place with 89 total traffic fatalities. However, the county has seemingly made progress on traffic safety, with a 5.32% decrease in fatalities compared to 2017 – dropping nine places from 35th the previous year.

Pinpointing traffic fatalities by county is arguably more valuable for inspiring change on a more significant level for traffic safety in America. By analyzing traffic fatality data on a more granular level, we can gain insight into counties that are hot spots for traffic deaths (such as Maricopa County) that we wouldn’t have otherwise found if looking by state.

In doing so, we can hopefully diriect attention to the counties which have high numbers of traffic activity, empowering counties to investigate these situations and make changes based on these data.

NJroute22 (site admin) is an avid traveler along NJ Route 22 (and almost all of central New Jersey!) Family man, pet lover, and property owner who has a natural curiosity for everything around.

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