Lake County, Ohio: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Ohio by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 11 deaths in 11 fatal crashes in Lake County in 2024.

FARS records 109 deaths in 106 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 4.7 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, Lake County was number 31 of 88 counties of Ohio.

Deaths in Lake County fell by 14.2% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (127) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (109).

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

From 2015 to 2024, 19.8% of the fatal crashes in Lake 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 Lake 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.Lake County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	11	11	6
2023	10	10	4
2022	13	13	3
2021	6	6	4
2020	15	15	8
2019	7	7	7
2018	13	12	4
2017	9	9	6
2016	11	10	5
2015	14	13	3
2015 to 2024	109	106	50

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 53 (1979)2024: 11

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

Table 2.Lake County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	11	11
2023	10	10
2022	13	13
2021	6	6
2020	15	15
2019	7	7
2018	13	12
2017	9	9
2016	11	10
2015	14	13
2014	10	9
2013	14	12
2012	11	10
2011	12	10
2010	15	14
2009	9	9
2008	13	13
2007	16	14
2006	15	15
2005	12	12
2004	6	5
2003	14	14
2002	15	15
2001	11	11
2000	14	13
1999	12	10
1998	19	19
1997	16	15
1996	11	11
1995	15	12
1994	19	17
1993	13	12
1992	9	9
1991	22	19
1990	23	21
1989	22	19
1988	24	20
1987	12	12
1986	21	19
1985	35	31
1984	28	27
1983	29	25
1982	32	31
1981	29	29
1980	39	33
1979	53	43
1978	32	31
1977	29	28
1976	32	25
1975	28	26

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.Lake County beside Ohio and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Lake County	Ohio	United States
2024	4.7	9.8	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	4.7	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. Lake County had 232,140 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Lake County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Ohio
A driver recorded as drinkingof 106 fatal crashes	50	106 fatal crashes	47.2%	31.7%
A speeding-related driverof 106 fatal crashes	24	106 fatal crashes	22.6%	22.7%
No restraint usedof 53 occupant deaths with restraint use known	29	53 occupant deathswith restraint use known	54.7%	55.4%
Pedestriansof 109 deaths	13	109 deaths	11.9%	11.7%
Bicyclistsof 109 deaths	1 or 2	109 deaths	1.8%	1.8%
Motorcyclistsof 109 deaths	35	109 deaths	32.1%	16.3%
On a rural roadof 101 fatal crashes with the condition reported	20	101 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	19.8%	42.3%
In the darkof 106 fatal crashes with the condition reported	48	106 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	45.3%	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.Lake 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	1 or 2	6	4	14
Monday	3	1 or 2	3	5	12
Tuesday	1 or 2	3	8	1 or 2	14
Wednesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	6	7	17
Thursday	1 or 2	6	1 or 2	5	13
Friday	1 or 2	3	8	4	16
Saturday	3	1 or 2	1 or 2	14	20
All days	14	17	34	41	106

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.Lake County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Ohio
Interstate	13	12.9%	11.6%
Other freeways and expressways	9	8.9%	3.4%
Other principal arterial	13	12.9%	19.5%
Minor arterial	25	24.8%	21.6%
Major collector	22	21.8%	24.5%
Minor collector	1 or 2	2.0%	4.2%
Local	17	16.8%	15.2%
Not reported	5	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.Lake County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	50
Dark, not lighted	20
Dark, lighted	28
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	6
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Lake County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	70
Cloudy	22
Rain	10
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	4
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 Lake County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Lake	In all of Ohio
Interstate 90	Interstate	13	99
State Route 2	State highway	9	67
State Route 44	State highway	3	24
US Route 6	US highway	1 or 2	121
US Route 20	US highway	13	114

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.Lake 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
Lake County: 4.7

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 Lake County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Ashtabula County	Ohio	21	171	17.5
Cuyahoga County	Ohio	118	949	7.6
Geauga County	Ohio	10	122	12.9

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 Lake 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. Lake County, Ohio: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/oh/lake/. 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 Lake in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 127 deaths in Lake County from 2005 to 2014. It records 109 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Lake in 2024?

The rate of Lake County in 2024 was 4.7 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 Lake had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 50 of 106 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 Lake?

5 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 39 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.