Berkshire County, Massachusetts: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Massachusetts by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 13 deaths in 13 fatal crashes in Berkshire County in 2024.

FARS records 122 deaths in 119 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 9.5 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Massachusetts in the same years is 5.3.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Berkshire County was number 10 of 14 counties of Massachusetts.

Deaths in Berkshire County fell by 8.3% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (133) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (122).

In the counties of Massachusetts the deaths fell by 4.0% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 40.3% of the fatal crashes in Berkshire County with a known setting were rural, against 6.6% in Massachusetts.

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 Berkshire 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.Berkshire County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	13	13	4
2023	9	9	1 or 2
2022	11	9	1 or 2
2021	10	10	1 or 2
2020	15	15	1 or 2
2019	13	13	4
2018	16	16	4
2017	11	10	1 or 2
2016	12	12	1 or 2
2015	12	12	6
2015 to 2024	122	119	30

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 40 (1975)2024: 13

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

Table 2.Berkshire County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	13	13
2023	9	9
2022	11	9
2021	10	10
2020	15	15
2019	13	13
2018	16	16
2017	11	10
2016	12	12
2015	12	12
2014	9	8
2013	9	9
2012	13	12
2011	14	13
2010	14	13
2009	16	15
2008	14	11
2007	10	10
2006	19	19
2005	15	13
2004	24	22
2003	12	11
2002	22	21
2001	16	13
2000	15	14
1999	19	18
1998	17	15
1997	14	12
1996	17	17
1995	15	13
1994	11	11
1993	15	13
1992	18	14
1991	23	19
1990	20	18
1989	33	31
1988	38	33
1987	22	22
1986	27	24
1985	24	22
1984	33	25
1983	17	15
1982	15	15
1981	20	20
1980	26	20
1979	27	25
1978	37	29
1977	37	34
1976	28	24
1975	40	38

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.Berkshire County beside Massachusetts and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Berkshire County	Massachusetts	United States
2024	10.1	5.1	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	9.5	5.3	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. Berkshire County had 129,049 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Berkshire County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Massachusetts
A driver recorded as drinkingof 119 fatal crashes	30	119 fatal crashes	25.2%	29.7%
A speeding-related driverof 119 fatal crashes	27	119 fatal crashes	22.7%	29.2%
No restraint usedof 58 occupant deaths with restraint use known	35	58 occupant deathswith restraint use known	60.3%	61.7%
Pedestriansof 122 deaths	19	122 deaths	15.6%	20.4%
Bicyclistsof 122 deaths	3	122 deaths	2.5%	2.3%
Motorcyclistsof 122 deaths	26	122 deaths	21.3%	15.6%
On a rural roadof 119 fatal crashes with the condition reported	48	119 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	40.3%	6.6%
In the darkof 118 fatal crashes with the condition reported	42	118 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	35.6%	48.5%

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.Berkshire 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	3	3	8	3	17
Monday	1 or 2	3	7	1 or 2	14
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	4	3	10
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	9	1 or 2	15
Thursday	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	8	15
Friday	3	3	10	6	22
Saturday	1 or 2	6	11	6	25
All days	15	23	51	29	118

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.Berkshire County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Massachusetts
Interstate	5	4.2%	15.9%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	4.3%
Other principal arterial	43	36.1%	30.6%
Minor arterial	28	23.5%	26.7%
Major collector	21	17.6%	10.0%
Minor collector	7	5.9%	0.9%
Local	15	12.6%	11.5%
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.Berkshire County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	70
Dark, not lighted	24
Dark, lighted	17
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	4
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Berkshire County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	85
Cloudy	19
Rain	11
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	3
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Berkshire County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Berkshire	In all of Massachusetts
Interstate 90	Interstate	5	83
State Route 2	State highway	3	40
State Route 9	State highway	5	48
State Route 116	State highway	1 or 2	23
US Route 20	US highway	11	74

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 Massachusetts

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Berkshire County on the county map of Massachusetts

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

Fewer than 1013 counties
10 to 14.91 county
15 to 19.90 counties
20 to 29.90 counties
30 or more0 counties
Berkshire County: 9.5

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 Massachusetts

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Berkshire County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Litchfield County	Connecticut	14	204	11.3
Franklin County	Massachusetts	8	71	10.0
Hampden County	Massachusetts	35	418	9.0
Hampshire County	Massachusetts	13	84	5.2
Columbia County	New York	5	82	13.5
Dutchess County	New York	36	242	8.2
Rensselaer County	New York	13	95	5.9
Bennington County	Vermont	4	41	11.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Massachusetts have a population nearest to that of Berkshire 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.
Governors Highway Safety Association: State Highway Safety OfficesThe list of the highway safety offices of the states.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Berkshire County, Massachusetts: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ma/berkshire/. 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.

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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 Berkshire in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 133 deaths in Berkshire County from 2005 to 2014. It records 122 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Berkshire in 2024?

The rate of Berkshire County in 2024 was 10.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Massachusetts was 5.1. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 30 of 119 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 Berkshire?

5 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 25 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.