Fatal crash rate in Bell County, Kentucky
Fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA in Bell County, Kentucky, 2020 to 2024, divided by the people who live there. Fatal crashes only: not injuries, not all crashes, not traffic in general.
Bell County, Kentucky2024 · fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA
13.0fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024
In 2024, NHTSA recorded 3 fatal crashes in Bell County, Kentucky, where 23,005 people lived. That is 13.0 fatal crashes for every 100,000 residents, and 3 people died in those crashes. Over 2020 to 2024 the average was 18.7.
The road is a scale of fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024, 0 to 40. The yellow post is Bell County; the white posts are Kentucky and the United States.
- Per 100,000
- 3 fatal crashes ÷ 23,005 residents × 100,000 = 13.0
- Five-year
- 22 crashes (2020 to 2024) ÷ 117,572 resident-years × 100,000 = 18.7
- Same year
- Kentucky: 663 ÷ 4,584,046 = 14.5 · United States: 36,297 ÷ 340,003,797 = 10.7
Every year, 2020 to 2024
| Year | Fatal crashes | Deaths | Population | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5 | 6 | 23,981 | 20.8 |
| 2021 | 8 | 9 | 23,799 | 33.6 |
| 2022 | 3 | 4 | 23,527 | 12.8 |
| 2023 | 3 | 3 | 23,260 | 12.9 |
| 2024 | 3 | 3 | 23,005 | 13.0 |
2024 is NHTSA’s Annual Report File and will be revised when the final file replaces it. Populations are July 1 estimates, Census Vintage 2025.
What the record says about those crashes, 2020 to 2024
Every figure is a count of the 22 fatal crashes NHTSA coded to Bell County, Kentucky over five years, from the fields FARS records. Nothing is estimated or inferred.
| Road type | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Interstate | 0 | 0% |
| Other freeway or expressway | 0 | 0% |
| Other principal arterial | 10 | 45% |
| Minor arterial | 2 | 9% |
| Major collector | 3 | 14% |
| Minor collector | 2 | 9% |
| Local road | 5 | 23% |
| Unknown or not reported | 0 | 0% |
| Rural | 18 | 82% |
| Urban | 4 | 18% |
| Time of day | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Midnight to 5:59 am | 6 | 27% |
| 6 am to 11:59 am | 5 | 23% |
| Noon to 5:59 pm | 2 | 9% |
| 6 pm to 11:59 pm | 8 | 36% |
| Hour unknown | 1 | 5% |
| Light | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Daylight | 9 | 41% |
| Dark, not lighted (or lighting unknown) | 10 | 45% |
| Dark, lighted | 2 | 9% |
| Dawn or dusk | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown or not reported | 0 | 0% |
| Weather | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 12 | 55% |
| Cloudy | 7 | 32% |
| Rain | 2 | 9% |
| Snow, sleet or freezing rain | 0 | 0% |
| Fog, smog or smoke | 1 | 5% |
| Severe wind, blowing sand or other | 0 | 0% |
| Unknown or not reported | 0 | 0% |
| Involving | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A pedestrian | 3 | 14% |
| A bicyclist or other cyclist | 1 | 5% |
| A speeding-related vehicle | 3 | 14% |
| A driver police reported as drinking | 5 | 23% |
| Most-named roads | Crashes |
|---|---|
| US-119 | 7 |
| US-25 | 2 |
| SR-190 | 1 |
| SR-441 HIGHWAY 441 | 1 |
| SR-2079 N 19TH ST | 1 |
Road type is FARS FUNC_SYS; speeding is any vehicle coded SPEEDREL 2 to 5; drinking is any driver coded DRINKING = 1 (police-reported, not a blood-alcohol test). Road names are the trafficway strings as the police coded them, counted as written, so the same road can appear under two spellings.
How this is counted
- Fatal crashes are rows in NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) file
FARS2024NationalCSV.zip,accident.csv, one row per crash on a public road in which someone died within 30 days. Deaths are theFATALSfield. Counties are the FARSSTATEandCOUNTYcodes joined to Census FIPS codes. - Population is the Census Bureau’s July 1 estimate for the same year, county totals, Vintage 2025. Rate per 100,000 = crashes ÷ population × 100,000.
- The five-year average is total crashes over the years with both inputs ÷ total population over those years × 100,000, the rolling form in 23 CFR 490.207.
- What it cannot say. FARS has no injury-only or property-damage crashes, no congestion, and nothing about any one driver, trip or road’s risk. A crash is counted where it happened, not where the people lived. Rates are not ranked here; comparing two places means comparing both sets of inputs.
Informational only, not professional advice. Last reviewed: October 2026. Data snapshot built 2026-10-28.