Fatal RoadsSearch

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

South Carolina fatal crashes in 1985

FARS records 951 deaths in 847 fatal crashes in South Carolina in 1985.

In 1984 it records 916 deaths in 820 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in South Carolina rose by 3.8% from 1984 to 1985. In the United States they fell by 1.0%.

In 1985, a driver was recorded as drinking in 38.6% of fatal crashes in South Carolina and 40.3% 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

1985 beside 1984

Table 1.South Carolina in 1985, in 1984 and the United States in 1985
FigureSouth Carolina, 1985South Carolina, 1984United States, 1985
Deaths95191643,825
Fatal crashes84782039,196
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking32726515,777

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 1985

Table 2.South Carolina: counties with a fatal crash in 1985, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Abbeville County119
Aiken County2725
Allendale County55
Anderson County4331
Bamberg County66
Barnwell County77
Beaufort County2419
Berkeley County4237
Calhoun County97
Charleston County6053
Cherokee County1715
Chester County98
Chesterfield County55
Clarendon County1010
Colleton County1212
Darlington County1210
Dillon County77
Dorchester County2524
Edgefield County33
Fairfield County1816
Florence County3429
Georgetown County1111
Greenville County5953
Greenwood County66
Hampton County99
Horry County6963
Jasper County1615
Kershaw County1111
Lancaster County2019
Laurens County2717
Lee County44
Lexington County3632
Marion County1714
Marlboro County77
McCormick County44
Newberry County1210
Oconee County1111
Orangeburg County2928
Pickens County2118
Richland County6054
Saluda County76
Spartanburg County5347
Sumter County2120
Union County86
Williamsburg County1515
York County3229

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1985 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.South Carolina: fatal crashes by time of day, 1985
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.20023.7%
6 a.m. to noon14216.8%
Noon to 6 p.m.20824.7%
6 p.m. to midnight29334.8%
Table 4.South Carolina: fatal crashes by weekday, 1985
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday12715.0%
Monday10712.6%
Tuesday10312.2%
Wednesday10111.9%
Thursday10111.9%
Friday13015.3%
Saturday17821.0%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. South Carolina fatal crashes in 1985. https://fatalroads.com/state/south-carolina/1985/. 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 1985. 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 1985 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 1985 was in South Carolina?

South Carolina had 951 of the 43,825 deaths in the United States in 1985. That is 2.2 percent.

In how many counties of South Carolina did FARS record a fatal crash in 1985?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 46 counties of South Carolina in 1985.

How many fatal crashes in South Carolina in 1985 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 327 of 847 fatal crashes in 1985.