"Danger Zone" is available in the IRE Resource Center. To order the story, contact the center at 573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org and ask for Story No. 21020.
Looking for news stories that have used the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System data? You can find some in the IRE Resource Center or on the Web.
Newsday analyzed three years of FARS data as part of a 12-part series, "Death on the Roads." The paper found that Suffolk County's traffic fatality rate ranks among the worst for large urban areas nationwide and is the worst in the New York metropolitan area. (Story No. 20601 in the IRE Resource Center)
The San Francisco Chronicle examined eight years of FARS data and found that California leads the nation in fatal hit-and-run accidents. Hit-and-runs accounted for 7.8 percent of the state's fatal crashes in 2001, more than twice the national average. Traffic safety experts cited the high number of drivers with a suspended or revoked license as one explanation for the state's problems with hit-and-run accidents. Read the story at www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/07/271MN292165.DTL.
Reader's Digest looked at fatal accident data from 1998 to 2001, focusing on incidents at intersections and removing crashes blamed on driver error or impairment. The magazine found that more than 24,000 people were killed. One-third of them were at intersections, where confusing lanes, blind spots and inadequate signs can be deadly. Read the story on the Web at www.rd.com/common/navindex jhtml?channelld=5&subChannelld=21&articleld=9526014&wtGroup=SPLASHMITI&wtID-SPLASTHISI003.
The Indianapolis Star used three years of FARS data to track fatal pickup truck accidents on Indiana roads in which victims were not wearing seat belts. The paper's analysis found that more than 90 percent of motorists who are thrown from the truck cab during an accident die or suffer a disabling injury. Indiana doesn't require adults in pickup trucks to wear seat belts. The death toll from these accidents is rising, but efforts to change the seat-belt law have failed. Read the story online at www.indystar.com/articles/6/135115-5226-092.html.
To order any of the stories in the IRE Resource Center, call the center at 573-882-3364 and provide the story number.
For more information about the FARS database see www.nicar.org/data/fars. Journalists and journalism organizations can order the data by calling the IRE and NICAR Database Library at 573-884-7711 or 573-884-7332.