Benton County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Tennessee by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 1 or 2 deaths in 1 or 2 fatal crashes in Benton County in 2024.

FARS records 35 deaths in 35 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 21.8 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Tennessee in the same years is 16.8.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Benton County was number 81 of 95 counties of Tennessee.

Deaths in Benton County fell by 39.7% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (58) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (35).

In the counties of Tennessee the deaths rose by 7.8% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 100.0% of the fatal crashes in Benton County with a known setting were rural, against 42.8% in Tennessee.

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 Benton 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.Benton County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2023	4	4	1 or 2
2022	6	6	1 or 2
2021	3	3	0
2020	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	8	8	0
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2016	3	3	1 or 2
2015	5	5	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	35	35	11

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 11 (1991)2024: 1 or 2

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

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

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.Benton County beside Tennessee and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Benton County	Tennessee	United States
2024	n/a	16.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	21.8	16.8	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. No rate is given for a count of 1 or 2.

Population: Census Bureau estimates, vintage 2025. Benton County had 16,105 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Benton County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Tennessee
A driver recorded as drinkingof 35 fatal crashes	11	35 fatal crashes	31.4%	24.5%
A speeding-related driverof 35 fatal crashes	1 or 2	35 fatal crashes	5.7%	16.5%
No restraint usedof 28 occupant deaths with restraint use known	11	28 occupant deathswith restraint use known	39.3%	48.7%
Pedestriansof 35 deaths	1 or 2	35 deaths	2.9%	13.0%
Bicyclistsof 35 deaths	0	35 deaths	0.0%	0.8%
Motorcyclistsof 35 deaths	5	35 deaths	14.3%	13.8%
On a rural roadof 35 fatal crashes with the condition reported	35	35 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	100.0%	42.8%
In the darkof 33 fatal crashes with the condition reported	11	33 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	33.3%	46.2%

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.Benton County: fatal crashes by weekday and time of day, 2015 to 2024
Weekday	6 a.m. to noon	Noon to 6 p.m.	6 p.m. to midnight	All
Sunday	0	5	0	5
Monday	0	1 or 2	0	1 or 2
Tuesday	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	7
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	0	4
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Friday	1 or 2	3	3	7
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	5
All days	6	18	8	32

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.Benton County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Tennessee
Interstate	5	14.3%	14.4%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	1.5%
Other principal arterial	5	14.3%	29.3%
Minor arterial	6	17.1%	23.5%
Major collector	7	20.0%	11.9%
Minor collector	5	14.3%	7.7%
Local	7	20.0%	11.7%
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.Benton County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	22
Dark, not lighted	10
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Benton County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	28
Cloudy	4
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 Benton County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Benton	In all of Tennessee
Interstate 40	Interstate	5	588
US Route 70	US highway	5	214
US Route 641	US highway	5	32

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 Tennessee

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Benton County on the county map of Tennessee

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

Fewer than 102 counties
10 to 14.916 counties
15 to 19.927 counties
20 to 29.940 counties
30 or more10 counties
Benton County: 21.8

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 Tennessee

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Benton County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Carroll County	Tennessee	6	48	17.0
Decatur County	Tennessee	3	34	29.3
Henry County	Tennessee	3	69	21.3
Houston County	Tennessee	0	22	26.6
Humphreys County	Tennessee	5	67	35.6
Perry County	Tennessee	4	27	32.4
Stewart County	Tennessee	6	38	27.7

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Tennessee have a population nearest to that of Benton 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.
Tennessee Highway Safety OfficeThe highway safety office of Tennessee.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Benton County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/tn/benton/. 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 Benton in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 58 deaths in Benton County from 2005 to 2014. It records 35 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 11 of 35 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 Benton?

FARS records 5 fatal crashes on Interstate 40 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 5 fatal crashes on US Route 70 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 5 fatal crashes on US Route 641 in the county from 2015 to 2024.