Wayne County, Michigan: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Michigan by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 177 deaths in 166 fatal crashes in Wayne County in 2024.

FARS records 1,948 deaths in 1,802 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 11.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Michigan in the same years is 10.6.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Wayne County was number 1 of 83 counties of Michigan.

Deaths in Wayne County rose by 18.0% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (1,651) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (1,948).

In the counties of Michigan the deaths rose by 8.1% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 1.7% of the fatal crashes in Wayne County with a known setting were rural, against 40.6% in Michigan.

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

190

201

161

164

166

253

219

216

201

177

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	177	166	23
2023	201	190	43
2022	216	201	47
2021	219	202	44
2020	253	235	50
2019	166	151	46
2018	164	153	45
2017	161	147	49
2016	201	184	46
2015	190	173	39
2015 to 2024	1,948	1,802	432

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 402 (1976)2024: 177

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	177	166
2023	201	190
2022	216	201
2021	219	202
2020	253	235
2019	166	151
2018	164	153
2017	161	147
2016	201	184
2015	190	173
2014	174	157
2013	171	158
2012	159	148
2011	129	122
2010	157	150
2009	173	149
2008	159	150
2007	190	171
2006	173	161
2005	166	156
2004	186	175
2003	222	209
2002	209	194
2001	238	223
2000	229	211
1999	233	216
1998	255	238
1997	261	235
1996	243	232
1995	269	249
1994	224	204
1993	233	223
1992	225	211
1991	219	208
1990	255	230
1989	241	226
1988	276	255
1987	221	207
1986	252	230
1985	266	249
1984	218	204
1983	218	206
1982	218	198
1981	279	264
1980	326	302
1979	325	303
1978	341	328
1977	349	324
1976	402	366
1975	341	319

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 Michigan and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Wayne County	Michigan	United States
2024	10.0	10.9	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	11.0	10.6	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 1,765,534 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 Michigan
A driver recorded as drinkingof 1,802 fatal crashes	432	1,802 fatal crashes	24.0%	28.1%
A speeding-related driverof 1,802 fatal crashes	559	1,802 fatal crashes	31.0%	25.4%
No restraint usedof 653 occupant deaths with restraint use known	313	653 occupant deathswith restraint use known	47.9%	39.4%
Pedestriansof 1,948 deaths	499	1,948 deaths	25.6%	15.2%
Bicyclistsof 1,948 deaths	50	1,948 deaths	2.6%	2.8%
Motorcyclistsof 1,948 deaths	295	1,948 deaths	15.1%	15.2%
On a rural roadof 1,798 fatal crashes with the condition reported	31	1,798 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	1.7%	40.6%
In the darkof 1,785 fatal crashes with the condition reported	1,111	1,785 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	62.2%	46.3%

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	146	35	48	93	322
Monday	75	35	41	85	236
Tuesday	39	31	64	85	219
Wednesday	44	19	45	86	194
Thursday	61	42	50	76	229
Friday	60	35	45	113	253
Saturday	121	36	52	138	347
All days	546	233	345	676	1,800

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 Michigan
Interstate	257	14.3%	9.0%
Other freeways and expressways	81	4.5%	4.0%
Other principal arterial	799	44.4%	27.7%
Minor arterial	334	18.6%	26.1%
Major collector	137	7.6%	18.4%
Minor collector	5	0.3%	1.7%
Local	186	10.3%	13.2%
Not reported	3	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	614
Dark, not lighted	248
Dark, lighted	855
Dawn	20
Dusk	40
Dark, lighting unknown	8
Other or unknown	17

Table 8.Wayne County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	1,349
Cloudy	242
Rain	160
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	32
Fog, smog or smoke	8
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	1 or 2
Other or not reported	10

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 Michigan
Interstate 75	Interstate	64	222
Interstate 94	Interstate	98	288
Interstate 96	Interstate	67	173
Interstate 275	Interstate	25	27
State Route 1	State highway	21	38
State Route 3	State highway	65	120
State Route 5	State highway	18	28
State Route 8	State highway	20	22
State Route 10	State highway	37	52
State Route 11	State highway	1 or 2	52
State Route 14	State highway	11	22
State Route 24	State highway	3	41
State Route 39	State highway	28	33
State Route 53	State highway	11	75
State Route 59	State highway	1 or 2	69
State Route 85	State highway	22	22
State Route 96	State highway	18	69
State Route 97	State highway	6	31
State Route 102	State highway	36	78
State Route 153	State highway	26	28
US Route 12	US highway	45	143
US Route 23	US highway	1 or 2	89
US Route 24	US highway	44	104

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 Michigan

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Wayne County on the county map of Michigan

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

Fewer than 1012 counties
10 to 14.943 counties
15 to 19.919 counties
20 to 29.98 counties
30 or more1 county
Wayne County: 11.0

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 Michigan

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
Macomb County	Michigan	70	558	6.4
Monroe County	Michigan	20	202	13.2
Oakland County	Michigan	68	667	5.3
Washtenaw County	Michigan	35	282	7.7

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Michigan 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.
Michigan Office of Highway Safety PlanningThe highway safety office of Michigan.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Wayne County, Michigan: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/mi/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.

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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 Wayne in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 1,651 deaths in Wayne County from 2005 to 2014. It records 1,948 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Wayne in 2024?

The rate of Wayne County in 2024 was 10.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Michigan was 10.9. 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 432 of 1,802 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?

23 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 668 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.