Polk County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Tennessee by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 7 deaths in 6 fatal crashes in Polk County in 2024.

FARS records 49 deaths in 46 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 28.2 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, Polk County was number 65 of 95 counties of Tennessee.

Deaths in Polk County fell by 16.9% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (59) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (49).

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 Polk 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 Polk 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.Polk County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	7	6	1 or 2
2023	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2022	5	5	0
2021	8	7	1 or 2
2020	5	5	3
2019	6	6	1 or 2
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2017	7	7	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	6	5	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	49	46	12

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 14 (1988)2024: 7

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

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

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.Polk County beside Tennessee and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Polk County	Tennessee	United States
2024	38.0	16.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	28.2	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.

Population: Census Bureau estimates, vintage 2025. Polk County had 18,408 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Polk County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Tennessee
A driver recorded as drinkingof 46 fatal crashes	12	46 fatal crashes	26.1%	24.5%
A speeding-related driverof 46 fatal crashes	10	46 fatal crashes	21.7%	16.5%
No restraint usedof 30 occupant deaths with restraint use known	20	30 occupant deathswith restraint use known	66.7%	48.7%
Pedestriansof 49 deaths	3	49 deaths	6.1%	13.0%
Bicyclistsof 49 deaths	0	49 deaths	0.0%	0.8%
Motorcyclistsof 49 deaths	12	49 deaths	24.5%	13.8%
On a rural roadof 46 fatal crashes with the condition reported	46	46 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	100.0%	42.8%
In the darkof 44 fatal crashes with the condition reported	17	44 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	38.6%	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.Polk 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	0	1 or 2	4	4	9
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	7
Tuesday	0	0	3	1 or 2	5
Wednesday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	4	7
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	3
Friday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Saturday	0	0	1 or 2	4	5
All days	1 or 2	7	13	18	40

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.Polk County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Tennessee
Interstate	0	0.0%	14.4%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	1.5%
Other principal arterial	27	58.7%	29.3%
Minor arterial	3	6.5%	23.5%
Major collector	5	10.9%	11.9%
Minor collector	1 or 2	4.3%	7.7%
Local	9	19.6%	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.Polk County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	25
Dark, not lighted	15
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Polk County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	31
Cloudy	6
Rain	5
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	3

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Polk County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Polk	In all of Tennessee
State Route 30	State highway	1 or 2	30
State Route 68	State highway	3	51
US Route 64	US highway	16	168
US Route 411	US highway	10	76

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.Polk 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
Polk County: 28.2

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 Polk County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Fannin County	Georgia	5	46	18.0
Murray County	Georgia	4	74	18.5
Cherokee County	North Carolina	4	58	20.1
Bradley County	Tennessee	15	136	12.5
McMinn County	Tennessee	16	145	26.9
Monroe County	Tennessee	5	122	26.0

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 Polk 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. Polk County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/tn/polk/. 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 Polk in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 59 deaths in Polk County from 2005 to 2014. It records 49 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Polk in 2024?

The rate of Polk County in 2024 was 38.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Tennessee was 16.5. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 12 of 46 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 Polk?

4 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 30 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.