2002 West Virginia Crash Data

NHTSA · 2003 · ROSA P / West Virginia. Dept. of Transportation

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Summary

The document titled "2002 West Virginia Crash Data" is a statistical report compiled by the Traffic Engineering Division of the West Virginia Division of Highways, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. It addresses the need for comprehensive traffic safety data by presenting detailed information on traffic crashes that occurred in West Virginia during the year 2002. The report serves as a resource for analyzing crash trends, identifying risk factors, and informing highway safety policies. The data is derived from Uniform Traffic Crash Reports submitted by various state law enforcement agencies, including the West Virginia State Police, county sheriff’s departments, and municipal police departments. The report notes that it has been revised from previous editions to improve usability, though it cautions users against directly comparing 2002 data with reports prior to the year 2000 due to methodological changes. The methodology involves the aggregation and categorization of crash data across numerous dimensions. The report organizes findings into distinct sections covering general crash statistics, vehicle information, driver and passenger demographics, injury severity, occupant protection usage, and specific crash contexts. General statistics include statewide totals, average crash rates, and trends from 1998 to 2002, as well as a 20-year history of fatalities from 1983 to 2002. Detailed breakdowns are provided for crashes by highway classification, manner of collision, time of day, weather and lighting conditions, and roadway surface characteristics. Vehicle-specific data includes body style, plate class, model year, registration state, and insurance status. Driver and passenger information covers age, gender, license state, driver action and condition, sobriety testing, and occupant protection types. The findings present a granular view of crash dynamics in West Virginia. The report details injury severity by age, gender, highway classification, and seating position, highlighting the impact of occupant protection and ejection on outcomes. Specific subsections analyze crashes involving pedestrians, bicyclists, ATV riders, motorcyclists, and large vehicles, providing data on helmet usage, injury severity, and contributing circumstances for each group. Additionally, the report isolates crashes occurring in private property, work zones, school zones, and those involving school buses, offering targeted insights into these high-risk environments. For instance, it examines the age and gender of drivers in fatal crashes, the manner of collision in fatal incidents, and the extent of vehicle damage. The data also tracks the occurrence of vehicle fires, hazardous cargo involvement, and the deployment of airbags. The significance of this report lies in its role as a foundational dataset for traffic engineering and safety planning in West Virginia. By providing extensive, categorized data on crash frequencies, severities, and contributing factors, it enables stakeholders to identify patterns and prioritize interventions. The inclusion of long-term trends and specific demographic breakdowns supports evidence-based decision-making for highway design, enforcement strategies, and public education campaigns. The report’s detailed segmentation allows for the analysis of specific vulnerable road users and high-risk locations, facilitating targeted safety improvements. As a public document accessible via the West Virginia Department of Transportation website, it ensures transparency and provides researchers, policymakers, and the public with critical information on traffic safety performance and risks within the state.

Key finding

West Virginia recorded 49,913 traffic crashes in 2002, including 405 fatal crashes that produced 444 fatalities and an estimated economic loss of about 3.96 billion dollars.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• incidence prevalence
• demographic disparities
• vru crash typology
• crash typology
• motorcycle crash typology

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
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource