Adams County, Pennsylvania: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Pennsylvania by year (CSV)Cite this page

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

FARS records 125 deaths in 115 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 12.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Pennsylvania in the same years is 9.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Adams County was number 29 of 67 counties of Pennsylvania.

Deaths in Adams County fell by 23.8% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (164) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (125).

In the counties of Pennsylvania the deaths fell by 14.8% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 76.3% of the fatal crashes in Adams County with a known setting were rural, against 45.3% in Pennsylvania.

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 Adams 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.Adams County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	13	13	3
2023	10	9	1 or 2
2022	13	9	3
2021	11	10	4
2020	16	13	1 or 2
2019	12	12	3
2018	16	15	1 or 2
2017	5	5	3
2016	15	15	1 or 2
2015	14	14	4
2015 to 2024	125	115	28

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 41 (1979)2024: 13

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

Table 2.Adams County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	13	13
2023	10	9
2022	13	9
2021	11	10
2020	16	13
2019	12	12
2018	16	15
2017	5	5
2016	15	15
2015	14	14
2014	6	6
2013	5	5
2012	14	13
2011	16	12
2010	16	14
2009	22	21
2008	22	21
2007	17	17
2006	19	16
2005	27	25
2004	17	15
2003	24	23
2002	18	17
2001	12	10
2000	13	12
1999	21	20
1998	17	14
1997	16	15
1996	20	17
1995	12	10
1994	22	19
1993	20	19
1992	27	25
1991	19	18
1990	14	13
1989	22	20
1988	30	24
1987	29	28
1986	19	17
1985	23	21
1984	17	14
1983	26	23
1982	16	13
1981	18	14
1980	20	19
1979	41	30
1978	35	31
1977	31	27
1976	16	14
1975	13	13

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.Adams County beside Pennsylvania and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Adams County	Pennsylvania	United States
2024	12.1	8.6	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	12.0	9.0	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. Adams County had 107,155 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Adams County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Pennsylvania
A driver recorded as drinkingof 115 fatal crashes	28	115 fatal crashes	24.3%	25.4%
A speeding-related driverof 115 fatal crashes	51	115 fatal crashes	44.3%	40.2%
No restraint usedof 80 occupant deaths with restraint use known	39	80 occupant deathswith restraint use known	48.8%	57.8%
Pedestriansof 125 deaths	8	125 deaths	6.4%	14.3%
Bicyclistsof 125 deaths	1 or 2	125 deaths	1.6%	1.7%
Motorcyclistsof 125 deaths	26	125 deaths	20.8%	17.3%
On a rural roadof 114 fatal crashes with the condition reported	87	114 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	76.3%	45.3%
In the darkof 115 fatal crashes with the condition reported	30	115 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	26.1%	43.6%

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.Adams 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	4	0	5	4	13
Monday	1 or 2	5	4	3	14
Tuesday	3	1 or 2	11	4	20
Wednesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	3	10
Thursday	1 or 2	6	4	1 or 2	12
Friday	3	6	10	9	28
Saturday	3	5	8	1 or 2	17
All days	18	26	45	25	114

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.Adams County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Pennsylvania
Interstate	0	0.0%	9.9%
Other freeways and expressways	4	3.5%	3.2%
Other principal arterial	40	34.8%	28.1%
Minor arterial	30	26.1%	22.4%
Major collector	11	9.6%	13.1%
Minor collector	9	7.8%	4.2%
Local	21	18.3%	19.1%
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.Adams County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	75
Dark, not lighted	25
Dark, lighted	5
Dawn	7
Dusk	3
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Adams County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	67
Cloudy	5
Rain	12
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	28

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Adams County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Adams	In all of Pennsylvania
State Route 1005	State highway	3	34
State Route 1015	State highway	3	21
State Route 2001	State highway	1 or 2	34
State Route 2006	State highway	1 or 2	26
State Route 2029	State highway	1 or 2	23
State Route 3001	State highway	1 or 2	23
State Route 3017	State highway	1 or 2	26
State Route 4001	State highway	1 or 2	28
US Route 15	US highway	10	40
US Route 30	US highway	14	200

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 Pennsylvania

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Adams County on the county map of Pennsylvania

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

Fewer than 1019 counties
10 to 14.928 counties
15 to 19.917 counties
20 to 29.92 counties
30 or more1 county
Adams County: 12.0

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 Pennsylvania

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Adams County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Carroll County	Maryland	16	147	8.6
Frederick County	Maryland	23	236	8.8
Cumberland County	Pennsylvania	18	199	7.7
Franklin County	Pennsylvania	21	207	13.3
York County	Pennsylvania	41	377	8.3

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Pennsylvania have a population nearest to that of Adams 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.
Pennsylvania Department of TransportationThe highway safety office of Pennsylvania.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Adams County, Pennsylvania: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/pa/adams/. 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 Adams in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 164 deaths in Adams County from 2005 to 2014. It records 125 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Adams in 2024?

The rate of Adams County in 2024 was 12.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Pennsylvania was 8.6. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 28 of 115 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 Adams?

10 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 37 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.