Wayne County, Indiana: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Indiana by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 4 deaths in 4 fatal crashes in Wayne County in 2024.

FARS records 70 deaths in 67 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 10.5 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Indiana in the same years is 13.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Wayne County was number 36 of 92 counties of Indiana.

Deaths in Wayne County fell by 25.5% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (94) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (70).

In the counties of Indiana the deaths rose by 8.8% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 80.6% of the fatal crashes in Wayne County with a known setting were rural, against 57.5% in Indiana.

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 Wayne County by year, 2015 to 2024

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.Wayne County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	4	4	1 or 2
2023	7	7	0
2022	8	8	1 or 2
2021	6	6	1 or 2
2020	12	9	1 or 2
2019	5	5	3
2018	4	4	0
2017	7	7	1 or 2
2016	10	10	1 or 2
2015	7	7	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	70	67	13

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 26 (1979)2024: 4

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

Table 2.Wayne County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	4	4
2023	7	7
2022	8	8
2021	6	6
2020	12	9
2019	5	5
2018	4	4
2017	7	7
2016	10	10
2015	7	7
2014	9	8
2013	14	13
2012	10	10
2011	9	8
2010	6	5
2009	12	12
2008	6	5
2007	6	6
2006	10	10
2005	12	11
2004	7	6
2003	11	10
2002	14	12
2001	10	8
2000	11	10
1999	9	9
1998	19	18
1997	10	8
1996	15	14
1995	9	9
1994	6	6
1993	11	9
1992	9	9
1991	9	9
1990	8	8
1989	17	16
1988	13	11
1987	9	9
1986	11	11
1985	17	15
1984	11	10
1983	11	10
1982	14	13
1981	17	12
1980	21	16
1979	26	23
1978	13	11
1977	18	17
1976	15	12
1975	19	16

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.Wayne County beside Indiana and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Wayne County	Indiana	United States
2024	6.0	12.0	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	10.5	13.0	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. Wayne County had 66,336 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Wayne County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Indiana
A driver recorded as drinkingof 67 fatal crashes	13	67 fatal crashes	19.4%	19.6%
A speeding-related driverof 67 fatal crashes	22	67 fatal crashes	32.8%	25.7%
No restraint usedof 47 occupant deaths with restraint use known	21	47 occupant deathswith restraint use known	44.7%	45.9%
Pedestriansof 70 deaths	3	70 deaths	4.3%	11.3%
Bicyclistsof 70 deaths	3	70 deaths	4.3%	2.2%
Motorcyclistsof 70 deaths	14	70 deaths	20.0%	14.9%
On a rural roadof 67 fatal crashes with the condition reported	54	67 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	80.6%	57.5%
In the darkof 67 fatal crashes with the condition reported	25	67 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	37.3%	44.6%

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.Wayne 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	4	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	9
Monday	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	4	11
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	4	10
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	3	1 or 2	8
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	5	6	15
Friday	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	0	5
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	3	9
All days	14	14	19	20	67

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.Wayne County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Indiana
Interstate	11	16.4%	11.1%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	1.6%
Other principal arterial	13	19.4%	27.4%
Minor arterial	14	20.9%	20.7%
Major collector	22	32.8%	20.2%
Minor collector	0	0.0%	4.0%
Local	7	10.4%	14.9%
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.Wayne County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	36
Dark, not lighted	22
Dark, lighted	3
Dawn	3
Dusk	3
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Wayne County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	48
Cloudy	10
Rain	7
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Wayne County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Wayne	In all of Indiana
Interstate 70	Interstate	9	103
State Route 1	State highway	1 or 2	40
State Route 38	State highway	1 or 2	21
US Route 27	US highway	3	41
US Route 35	US highway	5	56
US Route 40	US highway	5	67

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 Indiana

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Wayne County on the county map of Indiana

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

Fewer than 107 counties
10 to 14.926 counties
15 to 19.934 counties
20 to 29.923 counties
30 or more2 counties
Wayne County: 10.5

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 Indiana

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Wayne County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Fayette County	Indiana	1 or 2	37	15.9
Henry County	Indiana	6	84	17.3
Randolph County	Indiana	1 or 2	55	22.3
Union County	Indiana	1 or 2	15	21.2
Darke County	Ohio	4	87	16.9
Preble County	Ohio	4	95	23.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Indiana have a population nearest to that of Wayne 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.
Indiana Criminal Justice InstituteThe highway safety office of Indiana.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Wayne County, Indiana: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/in/wayne/. 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 Wayne in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 94 deaths in Wayne County from 2005 to 2014. It records 70 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Wayne in 2024?

The rate of Wayne County in 2024 was 6.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Indiana was 12.0. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 13 of 67 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 Wayne?

6 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 26 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.