Indiana Crash Facts 1998

NHTSA · 1998 · ROSA P / Indiana. Governor's Council on Impaired & Dangerous Driving

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Summary

This report, titled *Indiana Crash Facts 1998*, presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of motor vehicle traffic safety in Indiana for the year 1998. Compiled by the Automotive Transportation Center at Purdue University for the Governor’s Council on Impaired & Dangerous Driving, the document aims to identify underlying facts and circumstances contributing to crashes to facilitate the development of effective countermeasures. The study addresses the persistent challenge of reducing fatalities and injuries amidst increasing traffic levels, focusing on human behavior, vehicle usage, and environmental factors. The data is derived primarily from the Indiana State Police Crash Records database, which contains reports filed by state and local law enforcement, as well as the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The report analyzes 216,510 highway-related crashes, categorizing them by severity, location, time, contributing circumstances, and vehicle type. It benchmarks Indiana’s performance against state and national goals, such as reducing the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (MVMT) and increasing seat belt usage. The analysis covers specific demographics, including age and gender, and examines trends in alcohol involvement, restraint usage, and rural versus urban crash patterns. In 1998, 982 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in Indiana, resulting in a fatality rate of 1.4 per 100 million MVMT, a slight increase from 1997. Alcohol was involved in 23.3 percent of fatal crashes. Rural areas accounted for 74.7 percent of fatal crashes, while 60.1 percent of personal injury crashes occurred in urban areas. Young male drivers were significantly over-represented in fatal crashes, comprising 73 percent of drivers in such incidents. Safety belt usage remained a critical issue, with an overall usage rate of 61.8 percent for all passenger vehicles; notably, only 33.5 percent of pickup truck occupants wore seat belts. Among the 68 motorcyclists killed, 79.4 percent were not wearing helmets. The personal injury rate improved slightly to 109.11 per 100 million MVMT, but alcohol-related fatal crashes remained flat at 0.29 per 100 million MVMT. The report concludes that Indiana faces significant difficulties in meeting its aggressive safety goals without substantial improvements in seat belt usage, particularly among young male drivers and pickup truck occupants, and more effective interventions for alcohol-impaired driving. The data highlights that crashes are largely preventable incidents driven by human behavior, such as impaired driving, failure to use restraints, and risky maneuvers. The findings underscore the need for targeted public education, enforcement, and legislative advocacy to influence individual actions and reduce the frequency and severity of traffic crashes.

Key finding

Alcohol was involved in 23.3 percent of fatal crashes in Indiana in 1998, and 79.4 percent of killed motorcyclists were not wearing helmets.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• incidence prevalence
• demographic disparities
• fatality injury trends
• comparative international

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes, observational prevalence