Fatal crash rate in Sanders County, Montana
Fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA in Sanders County, Montana, 2020 to 2024, divided by the people who live there. Fatal crashes only: not injuries, not all crashes, not traffic in general.
Sanders County, Montana2024 · fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA
21.6fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024
In 2024, NHTSA recorded 3 fatal crashes in Sanders County, Montana, where 13,892 people lived. That is 21.6 fatal crashes for every 100,000 residents, and 3 people died in those crashes. Over 2020 to 2024 the average was 33.2.
The road is a scale of fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024, 0 to 40. The yellow post is Sanders County; the white posts are Montana and the United States. The shaded band is how far one crash moves Sanders County’s post.
- Per 100,000
- 3 fatal crashes ÷ 13,892 residents × 100,000 = 21.6
- Five-year
- 22 crashes (2020 to 2024) ÷ 66,365 resident-years × 100,000 = 33.2
- Same year
- Montana: 193 ÷ 1,137,557 = 17.0 · United States: 36,297 ÷ 340,003,797 = 10.7
Every year, 2020 to 2024
| Year | Fatal crashes | Deaths | Population | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | 3 | 12,454 | 24.1 |
| 2021 | 6 | 6 | 12,933 | 46.4 |
| 2022 | 6 | 7 | 13,373 | 44.9 |
| 2023 | 4 | 4 | 13,713 | 29.2 |
| 2024 | 3 | 3 | 13,892 | 21.6 |
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 Sanders County, Montana 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 | 0 | 0% |
| Minor arterial | 14 | 64% |
| Major collector | 2 | 9% |
| Minor collector | 2 | 9% |
| Local road | 4 | 18% |
| Unknown or not reported | 0 | 0% |
| Rural | 22 | 100% |
| Urban | 0 | 0% |
| Time of day | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Midnight to 5:59 am | 5 | 23% |
| 6 am to 11:59 am | 6 | 27% |
| Noon to 5:59 pm | 2 | 9% |
| 6 pm to 11:59 pm | 9 | 41% |
| Hour unknown | 0 | 0% |
| Light | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Daylight | 8 | 36% |
| Dark, not lighted (or lighting unknown) | 11 | 50% |
| Dark, lighted | 0 | 0% |
| Dawn or dusk | 3 | 14% |
| Unknown or not reported | 0 | 0% |
| Weather | Crashes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 12 | 55% |
| Cloudy | 7 | 32% |
| Rain | 1 | 5% |
| Snow, sleet or freezing rain | 1 | 5% |
| 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 | 0 | 0% |
| A bicyclist or other cyclist | 0 | 0% |
| A speeding-related vehicle | 8 | 36% |
| A driver police reported as drinking | 13 | 59% |
| Most-named roads | Crashes |
|---|---|
| SR-200 | 7 |
| SR-MT 200 | 2 |
| SR-28 | 2 |
| CR- LITTLE BITTEROOT ROAD | 1 |
| CR- WEST ROAD | 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.