CrashRate

Fatal crash rate · Rhode Island

Fatal crash rate in Washington County, Rhode Island

Fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA in Washington County, Rhode Island, 2020 to 2024, divided by the people who live there. Fatal crashes only: not injuries, not all crashes, not traffic in general.

Washington County, Rhode Island2024 · fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA

6.9fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024

In 2024, NHTSA recorded 9 fatal crashes in Washington County, Rhode Island, where 129,958 people lived. That is 6.9 fatal crashes for every 100,000 residents, and 10 people died in those crashes. Over 2020 to 2024 the average was 8.6.

The road is a scale of fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024, 0 to 40. The yellow post is Washington County; the white posts are Rhode Island and the United States.

Per 100,000
9 fatal crashes ÷ 129,958 residents × 100,000 = 6.9
Five-year
56 crashes (2020 to 2024) ÷ 651,180 resident-years × 100,000 = 8.6
Same year
Rhode Island: 48 ÷ 1,110,415 = 4.3 · United States: 36,297 ÷ 340,003,797 = 10.7

Every year, 2020 to 2024

YearFatal crashesDeathsPopulationPer 100,000
20201515129,77511.6
20211212130,8559.2
20221313130,44110.0
202377130,1515.4
2024910129,9586.9

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 56 fatal crashes NHTSA coded to Washington County, Rhode Island over five years, from the fields FARS records. Nothing is estimated or inferred.

Road typeCrashesShare
Interstate1018%
Other freeway or expressway611%
Other principal arterial1323%
Minor arterial916%
Major collector1018%
Minor collector35%
Local road47%
Unknown or not reported12%
Rural3563%
Urban2036%
Time of dayCrashesShare
Midnight to 5:59 am1120%
6 am to 11:59 am1018%
Noon to 5:59 pm2138%
6 pm to 11:59 pm1425%
Hour unknown00%
LightCrashesShare
Daylight3155%
Dark, not lighted (or lighting unknown)1221%
Dark, lighted713%
Dawn or dusk611%
Unknown or not reported00%
WeatherCrashesShare
Clear4784%
Cloudy47%
Rain47%
Snow, sleet or freezing rain00%
Fog, smog or smoke12%
Severe wind, blowing sand or other00%
Unknown or not reported00%
InvolvingCrashesShare
A pedestrian713%
A bicyclist or other cyclist12%
A speeding-related vehicle2036%
A driver police reported as drinking1221%
Most-named roadsCrashes
I-95 NORTH5
I-954
US-13
MIDDLEBRIDGE RD2
OLD POST RD2

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 the FATALS field. Counties are the FARS STATE and COUNTY codes 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.