2002 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts

NHTSA · 2003 · ROSA P / Virginia. Dept. of Motor Vehicles

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Summary

The document "2002 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts," published by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles in 2003, provides a comprehensive statistical analysis of traffic safety in Virginia for the year 2002. Produced through a cooperative effort with the Virginia Department of State Police and the Virginia Department of Transportation, the report aims to identify safety problems and support education and community activities by detailing crash frequencies, fatalities, injuries, and contributing factors. The data is derived from police reports and medical examiner records, covering 147,737 reportable traffic crashes. The report categorizes incidents by severity (fatal, personal injury, property damage), time of occurrence, driver demographics, vehicle types, and environmental conditions. A key methodological note indicates that while vehicle miles traveled (VMT) from 1993–2001 were estimated using gasoline consumption, 2002 VMT was calculated using vehicle counts from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Traffic Monitoring System. Alcohol-related status was determined using both police reports and medical examiner data. In 2002, Virginia recorded 913 fatalities, a 2.35% decrease from 2001, and 78,896 injuries, a 1.61% decrease. However, the total number of crashes increased by 2.18%. Despite the reduction in absolute fatalities, the death rate per 100 million vehicle miles increased by 12.04% to 1.21, largely due to a 13.46% decrease in estimated vehicle miles traveled. Alcohol remained a significant factor, with 375 fatalities and 8,465 injuries in alcohol-related crashes, representing increases of 4.75% and 3.09%, respectively. Speeding was implicated in 17,011 crashes where the speed limit was exceeded and 21,373 where the safe speed was exceeded. Two-vehicle crashes constituted 60.5% of all incidents. The data also highlights temporal patterns, with the highest number of total crashes occurring between 5:00 P.M. and 5:59 P.M., and fatal crashes peaking between 10:00 P.M. and 10:59 P.M. The report concludes that while overall crash frequency rose, the severity in terms of fatalities and injuries declined slightly in absolute numbers. However, the rising death rate per mile traveled suggests a worsening safety efficiency. The detailed breakdowns by jurisdiction, vehicle type, and driver characteristics provide specific evidence for targeted safety interventions, particularly regarding alcohol impairment and speeding, which continue to drive significant portions of severe crashes.

Key finding

Virginia experienced 913 traffic fatalities and 78,896 injuries in 2002, with alcohol-related fatalities rising 4.75 percent while overall fatalities decreased 2.35 percent.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• incidence prevalence
• demographic disparities
• sex gender
• fatality injury trends

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes