Crash Report Sampling System
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) United States Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Version: View help for Version V1
| Name | File Type | Size | Last Modified |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRSS | 04/26/2025 04:13:PM |
Project Citation:
United States Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Crash Report Sampling System. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-04-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/E227901V1
Project Description
Project Title:
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Crash Report Sampling System
Summary:
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CRSS obtains its data from a nationally representative probability sample selected from the more than 6 million police-reported crashes that occur annually. Although various sources suggest that there are many more crashes that are not reported to the police, the majority of these unreported crashes involve only minor property damage and no significant personal injury. By restricting attention to police-reported crashes, CRSS concentrates on those crashes of greatest concern to the highway safety community and the general public.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has collected crash
data since the early 1970s to support its mission to reduce motor
vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths on our nation’s highways. The
Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) builds on the retired, long-running
National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (NASS GES).
CRSS is a sample of police-reported crashes involving all types of
motor vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists, ranging from
property-damage-only crashes to those that result in fatalities. CRSS is
used to estimate the overall crash picture, identify highway safety
problem areas, measure trends, drive consumer information initiatives,
and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of highway safety
initiatives and regulations. NHTSA’s crash data collection program
consists of CRSS, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the Crash
Investigation Sampling System, Special Crash Investigations, Non-Traffic
Surveillance, the Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network, and
special studies conducted to address various safety topics.
One of the primary objectives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is to reduce the human toll and property damage that motor vehicle traffic crashes inflict on our society. Crashes each year result in thousands of lives lost, hundreds of thousands of injured victims, and billions of dollars in property damage. Accurate data are required to support the development, implementation, and assessment of highway safety programs aimed at reducing this toll. NHTSA uses data from many sources, including the Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS). CRSS is a sample of police-reported crashes involving all types of motor vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists, ranging from property damage only crashes to those that result in fatalities. CRSS is used to estimate the overall crash picture, identify highway safety problem areas, measure trends, drive consumer information initiatives, and form the basis for cost and benefit analyses of highway safety initiatives and regulations.
CRSS obtains its data from a nationally representative probability sample selected from the more than 6 million police-reported crashes that occur annually. Although various sources suggest that there are many more crashes that are not reported to the police, the majority of these unreported crashes involve only minor property damage and no significant personal injury. By restricting attention to police-reported crashes, CRSS concentrates on those crashes of greatest concern to the highway safety community and the general public.
Source: Crash Report Sampling System Analytical User’s Manual, 2016-2023
Original Distribution URL:
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https://www.nhtsa.gov/file-downloads?p=nhtsa/downloads/CRSS/
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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traffic accidents
Geographic Coverage:
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United States
Time Period(s):
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2016 – 2023
Methodology
Sampling:
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The following documents are included with the data and contain context on sampling.
- "Crash Report Sampling System Analytical User’s Manual, 2016-2023 - 813707.pdf"
- "Crash Report Sampling System: Sample Design and Weighting - 812706.pdf"
- "Crash Report Sampling System: Design Overview, Analytic Guidance, and FAQs - 812688.pdf"
Weights:
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See the included documentation "Crash Report Sampling System: Sample Design and Weighting - 812706.pdf"
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