Fatal RoadsSearch

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

North Dakota fatal crashes in 1978

FARS records 181 deaths in 148 fatal crashes in North Dakota in 1978.

In 1977 it records 175 deaths in 150 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Dakota rose by 3.4% from 1977 to 1978. In the United States they rose by 5.1%.

In 1978, a driver was recorded as drinking in 32.4% of fatal crashes in North Dakota and 35.5% 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

1978 beside 1977

Table 1.North Dakota in 1978, in 1977 and the United States in 1978
FigureNorth Dakota, 1978North Dakota, 1977United States, 1978
Deaths18117550,331
Fatal crashes14815044,433
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking48n/a15,780

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

NHTSA says that its count of drinking drivers is unreliable for 1977, 1981 and 1999 to 2007, because it was derived in a wrong way. This site gives no count for these years.

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 1978

Table 2.North Dakota: counties with a fatal crash in 1978, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Adams County1 or 21 or 2
Barnes County1 or 21 or 2
Benson County44
Bottineau County1 or 21 or 2
Bowman County1 or 21 or 2
Burke County64
Burleigh County76
Cass County149
Cavalier County33
Dickey County1 or 21 or 2
Divide County1 or 21 or 2
Dunn County87
Foster County1 or 21 or 2
Golden Valley County31 or 2
Grand Forks County1010
Griggs County1 or 21 or 2
Kidder County1 or 21 or 2
LaMoure County1 or 21 or 2
McHenry County1 or 21 or 2
McIntosh County1 or 21 or 2
McKenzie County54
McLean County54
Mercer County1 or 21 or 2
Morton County1510
Mountrail County85
Nelson County44
Oliver County1 or 21 or 2
Pembina County41 or 2
Ramsey County55
Ransom County33
Richland County33
Rolette County96
Sheridan County1 or 21 or 2
Slope County1 or 21 or 2
Stark County76
Steele County1 or 21 or 2
Stutsman County66
Towner County1 or 21 or 2
Traill County1 or 21 or 2
Walsh County41 or 2
Ward County55
Wells County31 or 2
Williams County99

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1978 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.North Dakota: fatal crashes by time of day, 1978
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.3121.2%
6 a.m. to noon2215.1%
Noon to 6 p.m.3826.0%
6 p.m. to midnight5537.7%
Table 4.North Dakota: fatal crashes by weekday, 1978
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday1812.2%
Monday128.1%
Tuesday1711.5%
Wednesday1912.8%
Thursday2214.9%
Friday3020.3%
Saturday3020.3%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Dakota fatal crashes in 1978. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-dakota/1978/. 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 1978. 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 1978 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 1978 was in North Dakota?

North Dakota had 181 of the 50,331 deaths in the United States in 1978. That is 0.4 percent.

In how many counties of North Dakota did FARS record a fatal crash in 1978?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 43 counties of North Dakota in 1978.

How many fatal crashes in North Dakota in 1978 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 48 of 148 fatal crashes in 1978.