Whitley County, Kentucky: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Kentucky by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 12 deaths in 11 fatal crashes in Whitley County in 2024.

FARS records 85 deaths in 82 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 23.3 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Kentucky in the same years is 17.1.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Whitley County was number 20 of 120 counties of Kentucky.

Deaths in Whitley County fell by 16.7% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (102) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (85).

In the counties of Kentucky the deaths fell by 2.9% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 84.1% of the fatal crashes in Whitley County with a known setting were rural, against 66.4% in Kentucky.

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 Whitley 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.Whitley County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	12	11	6
2023	9	9	3
2022	3	3	1 or 2
2021	5	5	3
2020	11	11	0
2019	5	5	1 or 2
2018	10	9	1 or 2
2017	7	7	3
2016	13	13	6
2015	10	9	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	85	82	27

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 19 (2003)2024: 12

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

Table 2.Whitley County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	12	11
2023	9	9
2022	3	3
2021	5	5
2020	11	11
2019	5	5
2018	10	9
2017	7	7
2016	13	13
2015	10	9
2014	9	9
2013	7	7
2012	11	8
2011	6	6
2010	9	9
2009	10	10
2008	9	8
2007	12	10
2006	18	14
2005	11	8
2004	9	9
2003	19	15
2002	14	12
2001	16	16
2000	8	7
1999	11	10
1998	13	12
1997	16	15
1996	14	11
1995	11	10
1994	6	5
1993	15	15
1992	11	10
1991	10	9
1990	12	11
1989	13	11
1988	17	17
1987	11	11
1986	10	9
1985	8	8
1984	5	4
1983	5	3
1982	4	4
1981	15	12
1980	4	4
1979	8	7
1978	9	9
1977	10	9
1976	13	11
1975	5	5

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.Whitley County beside Kentucky and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Whitley County	Kentucky	United States
2024	32.3	15.4	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	23.3	17.1	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. Whitley County had 37,205 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Whitley County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Kentucky
A driver recorded as drinkingof 82 fatal crashes	27	82 fatal crashes	32.9%	25.3%
A speeding-related driverof 82 fatal crashes	19	82 fatal crashes	23.2%	16.2%
No restraint usedof 69 occupant deaths with restraint use known	40	69 occupant deathswith restraint use known	58.0%	52.5%
Pedestriansof 85 deaths	7	85 deaths	8.2%	11.1%
Bicyclistsof 85 deaths	0	85 deaths	0.0%	1.2%
Motorcyclistsof 85 deaths	9	85 deaths	10.6%	13.1%
On a rural roadof 82 fatal crashes with the condition reported	69	82 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	84.1%	66.4%
In the darkof 82 fatal crashes with the condition reported	29	82 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	35.4%	40.5%

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.Whitley 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	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	6	13
Monday	0	1 or 2	6	3	11
Tuesday	1 or 2	5	1 or 2	6	13
Wednesday	0	5	6	4	15
Thursday	1 or 2	5	6	3	15
Friday	1 or 2	0	0	5	6
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	3	9
All days	7	21	24	30	82

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.Whitley County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Kentucky
Interstate	15	18.3%	10.8%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	2.2%
Other principal arterial	4	4.9%	22.3%
Minor arterial	11	13.4%	20.4%
Major collector	23	28.0%	18.9%
Minor collector	12	14.6%	10.5%
Local	17	20.7%	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.Whitley County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	51
Dark, not lighted	26
Dark, lighted	3
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Whitley County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	51
Cloudy	22
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	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Whitley County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Whitley	In all of Kentucky
Interstate 75	Interstate	15	166
State Route 92	State highway	10	27
US Route 25	US highway	4	141

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 Kentucky

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Whitley County on the county map of Kentucky

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

Fewer than 106 counties
10 to 14.919 counties
15 to 19.922 counties
20 to 29.957 counties
30 or more16 counties
Whitley County: 23.3

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 Kentucky

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Whitley County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Bell County	Kentucky	3	58	23.1
Knox County	Kentucky	3	53	17.3
Laurel County	Kentucky	18	132	21.4
McCreary County	Kentucky	1 or 2	46	26.7
Campbell County	Tennessee	7	90	22.6
Claiborne County	Tennessee	7	52	16.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Kentucky have a population nearest to that of Whitley 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.
Kentucky Office of Highway SafetyThe highway safety office of Kentucky.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Whitley County, Kentucky: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ky/whitley/. 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 Whitley in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 102 deaths in Whitley County from 2005 to 2014. It records 85 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Whitley in 2024?

The rate of Whitley County in 2024 was 32.3 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Kentucky was 15.4. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 27 of 82 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 Whitley?

FARS records 15 fatal crashes on Interstate 75 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 10 fatal crashes on State Route 92 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 4 fatal crashes on US Route 25 in the county from 2015 to 2024.