Fatal RoadsSearch

Edition: FARS 2024, annual fileNHTSA released it on Release dates

Minnesota fatal crashes in 1980

FARS records 848 deaths in 742 fatal crashes in Minnesota in 1980.

In 1979 it records 867 deaths in 776 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in Minnesota fell by 2.2% from 1979 to 1980. In the United States they did not change.

In 1980, a driver was recorded as drinking in 51.2% of fatal crashes in Minnesota and 40.4% in the United States.

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 .

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Release dates

1980 beside 1979

Table 1.Minnesota in 1980, in 1979 and the United States in 1980
FigureMinnesota, 1980Minnesota, 1979United States, 1980
Deaths84886751,091
Fatal crashes74277645,284
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking38036018,284

Note: this site has no rate for the years before 2000.

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. NHTSA's definitions

For the years before 2015 the count is from the FARS element DRUNK_DR. It counts a blood alcohol concentration of .01 g/dL or more. From 2015 the count is from DR_DRINK and counts .001 g/dL or more.

Counties in 1980

Table 2.Minnesota: counties with a fatal crash in 1980, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Aitkin County117
Anoka County3230
Becker County1611
Beltrami County1211
Benton County87
Big Stone County1 or 21 or 2
Blue Earth County1311
Brown County74
Carlton County99
Carver County53
Cass County1916
Chippewa County55
Chisago County97
Clay County2015
Clearwater County33
Cook County1 or 21 or 2
Cottonwood County1 or 21 or 2
Crow Wing County1614
Dakota County4437
Dodge County55
Douglas County86
Faribault County1 or 21 or 2
Fillmore County55
Freeborn County87
Goodhue County119
Grant County1 or 21 or 2
Hennepin County9384
Houston County55
Hubbard County44
Isanti County43
Itasca County99
Jackson County33
Kanabec County55
Kandiyohi County1311
Kittson County44
Koochiching County33
Lac qui Parle County44
Lake of the Woods County1 or 21 or 2
Le Sueur County43
Lincoln County1 or 21 or 2
Lyon County96
Mahnomen County1 or 21 or 2
Marshall County43
Martin County77
McLeod County33
Meeker County66
Mille Lacs County1010
Morrison County107
Mower County44
Nicollet County55
Nobles County31 or 2
Norman County55
Olmsted County2321
Otter Tail County1110
Pine County66
Pipestone County33
Polk County99
Pope County54
Ramsey County5247
Red Lake County1 or 21 or 2
Redwood County65
Renville County76
Rice County1210
Rock County1 or 21 or 2
Roseau County43
Scott County1312
Sherburne County1110
Sibley County63
St. Louis County4945
Stearns County3829
Steele County44
Swift County1 or 21 or 2
Todd County1 or 21 or 2
Traverse County1 or 21 or 2
Wabasha County76
Wadena County41 or 2
Waseca County66
Washington County3531
Watonwan County1 or 21 or 2
Wilkin County66
Winona County1010
Wright County1312
Yellow Medicine County33

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1980 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.Minnesota: fatal crashes by time of day, 1980
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.21730.1%
6 a.m. to noon9713.4%
Noon to 6 p.m.14419.9%
6 p.m. to midnight26436.6%
Table 4.Minnesota: fatal crashes by weekday, 1980
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday13918.7%
Monday679.0%
Tuesday679.0%
Wednesday8511.5%
Thursday10213.7%
Friday11115.0%
Saturday17123.0%

Note: the tables have the fatal crashes with a known hour or weekday.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Minnesota fatal crashes in 1980. https://fatalroads.com/state/minnesota/1980/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to .

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national file of 1980. This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Data to .

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

Which file does the 1980 page use?

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years.

What part of the deaths in the United States in 1980 was in Minnesota?

Minnesota had 848 of the 51,091 deaths in the United States in 1980. That is 1.7 percent.

In how many counties of Minnesota did FARS record a fatal crash in 1980?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 83 counties of Minnesota in 1980.

How many fatal crashes in Minnesota in 1980 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 380 of 742 fatal crashes in 1980.