Defiance County, Ohio: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Ohio by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 6 deaths in 6 fatal crashes in Defiance County in 2024.

FARS records 52 deaths in 51 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 13.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Ohio in the same years is 10.1.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Defiance County was number 69 of 88 counties of Ohio.

Deaths in Defiance County fell by 24.6% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (69) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (52).

In the counties of Ohio the deaths rose by 5.9% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 68.6% of the fatal crashes in Defiance County with a known setting were rural, against 42.3% in Ohio.

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 Defiance 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.Defiance County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	6	6	1 or 2
2023	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2022	5	5	3
2021	9	9	1 or 2
2020	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2019	3	3	0
2018	4	4	1 or 2
2017	9	9	4
2016	6	6	1 or 2
2015	7	6	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	52	51	18

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 24 (1980)2024: 6

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

Table 2.Defiance County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	6	6
2023	1 or 2	1 or 2
2022	5	5
2021	9	9
2020	1 or 2	1 or 2
2019	3	3
2018	4	4
2017	9	9
2016	6	6
2015	7	6
2014	8	7
2013	4	4
2012	4	3
2011	5	4
2010	6	5
2009	6	6
2008	3	3
2007	7	7
2006	18	12
2005	8	8
2004	5	3
2003	6	6
2002	8	4
2001	16	14
2000	5	4
1999	15	11
1998	7	6
1997	14	9
1996	7	5
1995	13	10
1994	15	12
1993	8	7
1992	9	9
1991	11	10
1990	12	11
1989	11	9
1988	10	6
1987	9	8
1986	12	11
1985	5	5
1984	13	12
1983	22	17
1982	9	9
1981	8	8
1980	24	16
1979	10	8
1978	11	11
1977	5	5
1976	18	16
1975	19	12

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.Defiance County beside Ohio and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Defiance County	Ohio	United States
2024	15.7	9.8	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	13.6	10.1	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. Defiance County had 38,333 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Defiance County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Ohio
A driver recorded as drinkingof 51 fatal crashes	18	51 fatal crashes	35.3%	31.7%
A speeding-related driverof 51 fatal crashes	10	51 fatal crashes	19.6%	22.7%
No restraint usedof 36 occupant deaths with restraint use known	14	36 occupant deathswith restraint use known	38.9%	55.4%
Pedestriansof 52 deaths	1 or 2	52 deaths	3.8%	11.7%
Bicyclistsof 52 deaths	1 or 2	52 deaths	1.9%	1.8%
Motorcyclistsof 52 deaths	11	52 deaths	21.2%	16.3%
On a rural roadof 51 fatal crashes with the condition reported	35	51 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	68.6%	42.3%
In the darkof 51 fatal crashes with the condition reported	21	51 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	41.2%	45.0%

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.Defiance 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	1 or 2	4	3	10
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	5
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	8	1 or 2	12
Wednesday	0	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2
Thursday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Friday	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	1 or 2	6
Saturday	3	1 or 2	4	4	13
All days	8	10	18	15	51

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.Defiance County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Ohio
Interstate	0	0.0%	11.6%
Other freeways and expressways	3	5.9%	3.4%
Other principal arterial	7	13.7%	19.5%
Minor arterial	7	13.7%	21.6%
Major collector	19	37.3%	24.5%
Minor collector	5	9.8%	4.2%
Local	10	19.6%	15.2%
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.Defiance County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	30
Dark, not lighted	19
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Defiance County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	33
Cloudy	14
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Defiance County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Defiance	In all of Ohio
State Route 2	State highway	3	67
State Route 18	State highway	3	51
State Route 49	State highway	1 or 2	34
US Route 24	US highway	10	36
US Route 127	US highway	1 or 2	69

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 Ohio

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Defiance County on the county map of Ohio

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

Fewer than 1022 counties
10 to 14.929 counties
15 to 19.927 counties
20 to 29.99 counties
30 or more1 county
Defiance County: 13.6

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 Ohio

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Defiance County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Allen County	Indiana	41	385	10.1
DeKalb County	Indiana	9	67	15.4
Henry County	Ohio	9	70	25.6
Paulding County	Ohio	1 or 2	29	15.4
Putnam County	Ohio	1 or 2	28	8.2
Williams County	Ohio	6	67	18.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Ohio have a population nearest to that of Defiance 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.
Ohio Traffic Safety OfficeThe highway safety office of Ohio.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Defiance County, Ohio: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/oh/defiance/. 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 Defiance in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 69 deaths in Defiance County from 2005 to 2014. It records 52 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Defiance in 2024?

The rate of Defiance County in 2024 was 15.7 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Ohio was 9.8. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 18 of 51 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 Defiance?

5 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 18 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.