Shelby County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Illinois by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 6 deaths in 4 fatal crashes in Shelby County in 2024.

FARS records 45 deaths in 40 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 21.2 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Illinois in the same years is 9.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Shelby County was number 52 of 102 counties of Illinois.

Deaths in Shelby County rose by 45.2% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (31) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (45).

In the counties of Illinois the deaths rose by 8.4% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 97.5% of the fatal crashes in Shelby County with a known setting were rural, against 33.6% in Illinois.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.
The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.
NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

This page rests on the FARS 2024 annual file. NHTSA released it on 1 Apr 2026. NHTSA can revise the counts in the final file. Release dates

Figure 1.Deaths in Shelby County by year, 2015 to 2024

1 or 2

Table 1 has the numbers. Go to the table

Since the last update: no figure of this county has a change on record.

Deaths and fatal crashes by year

Table 1.Shelby County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	6	4	1 or 2
2023	3	3	1 or 2
2022	4	3	0
2021	7	6	1 or 2
2020	3	3	1 or 2
2019	7	7	1 or 2
2018	5	5	1 or 2
2017	3	1 or 2	0
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	5	5	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	45	40	11

Each year from 1975

Figure 2.Deaths in Shelby County by year, 1975 to 2024

Tallest column: 11 (1988)2024: 6

The columns with a stronger shade are the years 2015 to 2024.

Table 2.Shelby County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	6	4
2023	3	3
2022	4	3
2021	7	6
2020	3	3
2019	7	7
2018	5	5
2017	3	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	5	5
2014	1 or 2	1 or 2
2013	0	0
2012	1 or 2	1 or 2
2011	0	0
2010	7	4
2009	4	4
2008	5	5
2007	5	5
2006	1 or 2	1 or 2
2005	6	5
2004	1 or 2	1 or 2
2003	6	4
2002	3	3
2001	11	10
2000	4	4
1999	1 or 2	1 or 2
1998	1 or 2	1 or 2
1997	4	4
1996	8	7
1995	8	6
1994	4	4
1993	8	8
1992	6	6
1991	1 or 2	1 or 2
1990	8	4
1989	8	5
1988	11	9
1987	3	3
1986	5	4
1985	7	3
1984	10	7
1983	7	4
1982	7	6
1981	1 or 2	1 or 2
1980	8	5
1979	4	3
1978	3	1 or 2
1977	5	5
1976	9	8
1975	10	10

Note: a count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2". A death is in FARS when it occurs in 30 days or less after the crash.

Rate for each 100,000 residents

Table 3.Shelby County beside Illinois and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Shelby County	Illinois	United States
2024	29.2	9.3	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	21.2	9.0	11.8

Note: the rate divides the deaths in the county by its residents. Persons who do not live in the county are in the deaths, not in the residents.

Population: Census Bureau estimates, vintage 2025. Shelby County had 20,554 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Shelby County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Illinois
A driver recorded as drinkingof 40 fatal crashes	11	40 fatal crashes	27.5%	27.2%
A speeding-related driverof 40 fatal crashes	15	40 fatal crashes	37.5%	36.5%
No restraint usedof 33 occupant deaths with restraint use known	17	33 occupant deathswith restraint use known	51.5%	46.8%
Pedestriansof 45 deaths	1 or 2	45 deaths	4.4%	15.5%
Bicyclistsof 45 deaths	1 or 2	45 deaths	2.2%	2.5%
Motorcyclistsof 45 deaths	6	45 deaths	13.3%	13.3%
On a rural roadof 40 fatal crashes with the condition reported	39	40 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	97.5%	33.6%
In the darkof 40 fatal crashes with the condition reported	15	40 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	37.5%	48.7%

Note: FARS records a driver as drinking when police reported alcohol involvement or a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. It is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure, which uses a blood alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher. One crash can be in two or more rows. NHTSA's definitions

Note that alcohol data is often missing. For that reason, this data element may under-count the actual number of drinking drivers.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

Weekday, time and road class

Table 5.Shelby County: fatal crashes by weekday and time of day, 2015 to 2024
Weekday	Midnight to 6 a.m.	6 a.m. to noon	Noon to 6 p.m.	6 p.m. to midnight	All
Sunday	0	0	1 or 2	5	6
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	8
Tuesday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Wednesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	5
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	3
Friday	0	0	4	3	7
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	8
All days	6	4	16	14	40

Note: a cell with a stronger shade has a larger count. The table has the fatal crashes with a known hour and weekday.

Table 6.Shelby County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Illinois
Interstate	0	0.0%	14.2%
Other freeways and expressways	1 or 2	5.0%	0.7%
Other principal arterial	12	30.0%	29.1%
Minor arterial	4	10.0%	24.5%
Major collector	12	30.0%	17.0%
Minor collector	1 or 2	5.0%	2.0%
Local	8	20.0%	12.5%
Not reported	0	n/a	n/a

Note: the classes are those of the Federal Highway Administration. The shares are of the crashes with a reported class. Road function classes

Light condition and weather

Table 7.Shelby County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	22
Dark, not lighted	14
Dark, lighted	0
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Shelby County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	35
Cloudy	0
Rain	4
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Shelby County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Shelby	In all of Illinois
State Route 16	State highway	6	39
US Route 45	US highway	1 or 2	130
US Route 51	US highway	6	71

Note: the table has each route with a page that has a fatal crash in the county, in name order. Local streets and county roads have no page. Their crashes are in the county totals. All routes in Illinois

Adjacent counties

These lists are for navigation. They are in name order.

Figure 3.Shelby County on the county map of Illinois

Deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year, 2015 to 2024

Fewer than 1016 counties
10 to 14.926 counties
15 to 19.927 counties
20 to 29.928 counties
30 or more5 counties
Shelby County: 21.2

The limits of the classes are the same for every state. A county with few residents can show a high rate from few deaths. A class is not a judgement of a county. The full map and the table of counties of Illinois

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Shelby County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Christian County	Illinois	7	64	19.2
Coles County	Illinois	12	74	15.0
Cumberland County	Illinois	1 or 2	30	28.4
Effingham County	Illinois	7	76	22.1
Fayette County	Illinois	1 or 2	53	24.8
Macon County	Illinois	13	136	13.1
Montgomery County	Illinois	4	74	26.0
Moultrie County	Illinois	3	20	13.8

Source of the list: Census Bureau county adjacency file, 2026 edition.

Counties of similar population

These counties of Illinois have a population nearest to that of Shelby County. The list is for navigation and is in name order. The number is the deaths from 2015 to 2024.

Official channels

NHTSA Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST)NHTSA's query tool for FARS counts.
NHTSA FARS EncyclopediaNHTSA's tables of FARS data.
Illinois Department of TransportationThe highway safety office of Illinois.

These links go to the sites of the agencies. They were checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Shelby County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/il/shelby/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to 31 Dec 2024.

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national files of 1975 to 2024. The factors use the vehicle and person files from 2015. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Map: Census Bureau cartographic boundary file, 2021 edition. Data to 31 Dec 2024. The figures are totals. No page of this site is about one crash or one person.

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

How many deaths did FARS record in Shelby in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 31 deaths in Shelby County from 2005 to 2014. It records 45 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Shelby in 2024?

The rate of Shelby County in 2024 was 29.2 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Illinois was 9.3. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

How many fatal crashes in Shelby had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 11 of 40 fatal crashes from 2015 to 2024. This count is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure. NHTSA says that alcohol data is often missing, so the count may be too low.

How many fatal crashes did FARS record on signed routes in Shelby?

FARS records 6 fatal crashes on State Route 16 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 1 or 2 fatal crashes on US Route 45 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 6 fatal crashes on US Route 51 in the county from 2015 to 2024.