Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Some "Statistics"

This morning I received some statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in regards to pursuit fatalities.

You can view the report HERE.

These are the from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) statistics that are often refered to. Again, as I have stressed before, the validity is questionable. Note the following:

  • FARS relies on self reporting by law enforcement
  • A report might be filed the day following a pursuit reporting no fatalities, yet a victim might die several days later.
  • Events might not be classified as pursuits by accident or by design.
Brief... Brief summary:

The report includes FARS statistics from 1982 to 2006 and includes a breakdown by state. In 2006, FARS reported 404 police pursuit fatalities. In 2005, 359. In 2006, California led the way with 50 pursuit fatalities, followed by Texas (39), Arizona (28), Florida (22), and Pennsylvania (20). Also, in 2006, of the 404 deaths 3 were police officers, 268 were those who were being chased, 122 were victims in another car, and 11 were pedestrians.

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