Analysis of Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes and Fatalities at Intersections, 1997 to 2004

This report aims to characterize the drivers, infrastructure, and environment associated with fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes that occur at roadway intersections in the United States. Trends of these characteristics have been presented for the eight-year period from 1997 to 2004, the latest year for which such data was available at the time of this analysis. Of particular interest are the type and condition of traffic control devices present at the intersection, potential driver and environment-related contributing factors, as well as violations that were charged to the drivers involved in the crashes. Although fatal crashes represent a small proportion of all motor vehicle traffic crashes, they cause considerable emotional and economic trauma to surviving family members and economic losses to society. In 2004, about 9,400 people were fatally injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes that occurred at intersections or were intersection-related. This represents slightly more than 20 percent of all fatalities that occurred in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States.