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

South Dakota fatal crashes in 2015

FARS records 134 deaths in 116 fatal crashes in South Dakota in 2015.

In 2014 it records 136 deaths in 125 fatal crashes.

In 2015 the rate is 15.7 deaths for each 100,000 residents in South Dakota and 11.1 in the United States.

By deaths for each 100,000 residents in 2015, South Dakota was number 11 of 51, the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Deaths in South Dakota fell by 1.5% from 2014 to 2015. In the United States they rose by 8.4%.

In 2015, a driver was recorded as drinking in 35.3% of fatal crashes in South Dakota and 28.3% 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 .

NHTSA released the final file of 2015 on 11 Jan 2017. Release dates

2015 beside 2014

Table 1.South Dakota in 2015, in 2014 and the United States in 2015
FigureSouth Dakota, 2015South Dakota, 2014United States, 2015
Deaths13413635,484
Fatal crashes11612532,538
Deaths for each 100,000 residents15.716.011.1
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking41469,215

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 2015

Table 2.South Dakota: counties with a fatal crash in 2015, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Aurora County33
Beadle County44
Bennett County1 or 21 or 2
Brookings County1 or 21 or 2
Brown County1 or 21 or 2
Butte County1 or 21 or 2
Campbell County1 or 21 or 2
Charles Mix County1 or 21 or 2
Clay County1 or 21 or 2
Codington County1 or 21 or 2
Custer County54
Davison County33
Day County1 or 21 or 2
Edmunds County61 or 2
Fall River County1 or 21 or 2
Faulk County1 or 21 or 2
Grant County1 or 21 or 2
Gregory County1 or 21 or 2
Hamlin County1 or 21 or 2
Hand County1 or 21 or 2
Hanson County74
Harding County1 or 21 or 2
Hughes County1 or 21 or 2
Hutchinson County1 or 21 or 2
Jackson County31 or 2
Jones County1 or 21 or 2
Lawrence County88
Lincoln County44
Marshall County1 or 21 or 2
McCook County1 or 21 or 2
Meade County66
Mellette County1 or 21 or 2
Miner County1 or 21 or 2
Minnehaha County1010
Moody County41 or 2
Oglala Lakota County65
Pennington County1615
Roberts County43
Sanborn County1 or 21 or 2
Sully County1 or 21 or 2
Turner County1 or 21 or 2
Union County1 or 21 or 2
Walworth County1 or 21 or 2
Yankton County73

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 2015 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.South Dakota: fatal crashes by time of day, 2015
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.2017.2%
6 a.m. to noon2319.8%
Noon to 6 p.m.5043.1%
6 p.m. to midnight2319.8%
Table 4.South Dakota: fatal crashes by weekday, 2015
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday2319.8%
Monday119.5%
Tuesday1210.3%
Wednesday86.9%
Thursday1412.1%
Friday2319.8%
Saturday2521.6%

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

Road function class

Table 5.South Dakota: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015
Road function classFatal crashesShare
Interstate2521.6%
Other freeways and expressways32.6%
Other principal arterial2622.4%
Minor arterial1916.4%
Major collector2521.6%
Minor collector21.7%
Local1613.8%
Not reported0n/a

Note: the shares are of the crashes with a reported class. Road function classes

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. South Dakota fatal crashes in 2015. https://fatalroads.com/state/south-dakota/2015/. 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 2015. NHTSA released the final file of 2015 on 11 Jan 2017. 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 2015 page use?

NHTSA released the final file of 2015 on 11 Jan 2017.

What part of the deaths in the United States in 2015 was in South Dakota?

South Dakota had 134 of the 35,484 deaths in the United States in 2015. That is 0.4 percent.

In how many counties of South Dakota did FARS record a fatal crash in 2015?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 44 counties of South Dakota in 2015.

How many fatal crashes in South Dakota in 2015 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 41 of 116 fatal crashes in 2015.