Fatal RoadsSearch

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

North Dakota fatal crashes in 1979

FARS records 128 deaths in 114 fatal crashes in North Dakota in 1979.

In 1978 it records 181 deaths in 148 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Dakota fell by 29.3% from 1978 to 1979. In the United States they rose by 1.5%.

In 1979, a driver was recorded as drinking in 43.0% of fatal crashes in North Dakota and 38.8% 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

1979 beside 1978

Table 1.North Dakota in 1979, in 1978 and the United States in 1979
FigureNorth Dakota, 1979North Dakota, 1978United States, 1979
Deaths12818151,093
Fatal crashes11414845,223
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking494817,532

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 1979

Table 2.North Dakota: counties with a fatal crash in 1979, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Adams County1 or 21 or 2
Barnes County55
Bottineau County1 or 21 or 2
Bowman County1 or 21 or 2
Burleigh County33
Cass County1313
Cavalier County31 or 2
Dickey County1 or 21 or 2
Divide County1 or 21 or 2
Dunn County1 or 21 or 2
Foster County1 or 21 or 2
Grand Forks County55
Griggs County1 or 21 or 2
LaMoure County75
Logan County1 or 21 or 2
McHenry County44
McKenzie County55
McLean County33
Mercer County33
Morton County54
Mountrail County1 or 21 or 2
Nelson County1 or 21 or 2
Oliver County1 or 21 or 2
Pembina County1 or 21 or 2
Ransom County1 or 21 or 2
Renville County1 or 21 or 2
Richland County54
Rolette County54
Sheridan County33
Sioux County1 or 21 or 2
Stark County94
Stutsman County1 or 21 or 2
Towner County1 or 21 or 2
Walsh County43
Ward County75
Wells County33
Williams County1010

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1979 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, 1979
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.2623.0%
6 a.m. to noon2219.5%
Noon to 6 p.m.3430.1%
6 p.m. to midnight3127.4%
Table 4.North Dakota: fatal crashes by weekday, 1979
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday1513.2%
Monday1815.8%
Tuesday1614.0%
Wednesday1513.2%
Thursday1311.4%
Friday1311.4%
Saturday2421.1%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Dakota fatal crashes in 1979. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-dakota/1979/. 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 1979. 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 1979 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 1979 was in North Dakota?

North Dakota had 128 of the 51,093 deaths in the United States in 1979. That is 0.3 percent.

In how many counties of North Dakota did FARS record a fatal crash in 1979?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 37 counties of North Dakota in 1979.

How many fatal crashes in North Dakota in 1979 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 49 of 114 fatal crashes in 1979.