Fatal RoadsSearch

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

Virginia fatal crashes in 1983

FARS records 901 deaths in 803 fatal crashes in Virginia in 1983.

In 1982 it records 881 deaths in 782 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in Virginia rose by 2.3% from 1982 to 1983. In the United States they fell by 3.1%.

In 1983, a driver was recorded as drinking in 45.6% of fatal crashes in Virginia and 41.0% 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

1983 beside 1982

Table 1.Virginia in 1983, in 1982 and the United States in 1983
FigureVirginia, 1983Virginia, 1982United States, 1983
Deaths90188142,589
Fatal crashes80378237,976
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking36634715,565

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 1983

Table 2.Virginia: counties with a fatal crash in 1983, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Accomack County109
Albemarle County1610
Alexandria city33
Alleghany County43
Amherst County138
Appomattox County97
Arlington County1616
Augusta County1712
Bedford County109
Botetourt County66
Bristol city33
Brunswick County87
Buchanan County77
Buckingham County33
Campbell County98
Caroline County1010
Carroll County106
Charlotte County1 or 21 or 2
Charlottesville city76
Chesapeake city1714
Chesterfield County2321
Clarke County1 or 21 or 2
Colonial Heights city1 or 21 or 2
Covington city1 or 21 or 2
Craig County1 or 21 or 2
Culpeper County44
Cumberland County31 or 2
Danville city1 or 21 or 2
Dickenson County1 or 21 or 2
Dinwiddie County109
Essex County1 or 21 or 2
Fairfax city1 or 21 or 2
Fairfax County5752
Falls Church city1 or 21 or 2
Fauquier County119
Floyd County44
Fluvanna County1 or 21 or 2
Franklin County88
Frederick County1010
Galax city1 or 21 or 2
Giles County87
Gloucester County43
Goochland County1 or 21 or 2
Grayson County1 or 21 or 2
Greene County1 or 21 or 2
Greensville County86
Halifax County77
Hampton city1110
Hanover County1715
Harrisonburg city1 or 21 or 2
Henrico County1614
Henry County2018
Highland County1 or 21 or 2
Hopewell city33
Isle of Wight County33
James City County33
King and Queen County55
King George County115
Lancaster County1 or 21 or 2
Lee County66
Loudoun County1515
Louisa County97
Lunenburg County1 or 21 or 2
Lynchburg city88
Madison County54
Martinsville city1 or 21 or 2
Mathews County1 or 21 or 2
Mecklenburg County98
Montgomery County109
Nelson County1 or 21 or 2
New Kent County54
Newport News city1211
Norfolk city2524
Northampton County77
Nottoway County33
Orange County54
Page County44
Patrick County33
Petersburg city86
Pittsylvania County1110
Portsmouth city1010
Powhatan County1 or 21 or 2
Prince Edward County55
Prince George County96
Prince William County2423
Pulaski County44
Rappahannock County44
Richmond city2824
Richmond County63
Roanoke city1313
Roanoke County1110
Rockbridge County66
Rockingham County2018
Russell County76
Salem city1 or 21 or 2
Scott County44
Shenandoah County55
Smyth County53
Southampton County65
Spotsylvania County109
Stafford County54
Staunton city1 or 21 or 2
Suffolk city1918
Surry County1 or 21 or 2
Sussex County33
Tazewell County99
Virginia Beach city3635
Warren County55
Washington County1211
Waynesboro city1 or 21 or 2
Westmoreland County44
Winchester city1 or 21 or 2
Wise County1 or 21 or 2
Wythe County77
York County1110

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1983 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.Virginia: fatal crashes by time of day, 1983
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.18923.7%
6 a.m. to noon12916.2%
Noon to 6 p.m.19924.9%
6 p.m. to midnight28135.2%
Table 4.Virginia: fatal crashes by weekday, 1983
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday12615.7%
Monday779.6%
Tuesday8210.2%
Wednesday10813.4%
Thursday9511.8%
Friday14317.8%
Saturday17221.4%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Virginia fatal crashes in 1983. https://fatalroads.com/state/virginia/1983/. 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 1983. 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 1983 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 1983 was in Virginia?

Virginia had 901 of the 42,589 deaths in the United States in 1983. That is 2.1 percent.

In how many counties of Virginia did FARS record a fatal crash in 1983?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 115 counties of Virginia in 1983.

How many fatal crashes in Virginia in 1983 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 366 of 803 fatal crashes in 1983.