Fatal RoadsSearch

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

Virginia fatal crashes in 1990

FARS records 1,079 deaths in 953 fatal crashes in Virginia in 1990.

In 1989 it records 1,004 deaths in 918 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in Virginia rose by 7.5% from 1989 to 1990. In the United States they fell by 2.2%.

In 1990, a driver was recorded as drinking in 44.0% of fatal crashes in Virginia 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

1990 beside 1989

Table 1.Virginia in 1990, in 1989 and the United States in 1990
FigureVirginia, 1990Virginia, 1989United States, 1990
Deaths1,0791,00444,599
Fatal crashes95391839,836
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking41936716,052

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 1990

Table 2.Virginia: counties with a fatal crash in 1990, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Accomack County66
Albemarle County2118
Alexandria city44
Alleghany County1 or 21 or 2
Amelia County66
Amherst County55
Appomattox County1 or 21 or 2
Arlington County98
Augusta County2620
Bedford County2119
Bland County33
Botetourt County1211
Bristol city44
Brunswick County77
Buchanan County1211
Buckingham County88
Campbell County55
Caroline County1010
Carroll County77
Charles City County1 or 21 or 2
Charlotte County65
Charlottesville city53
Chesapeake city1716
Chesterfield County3126
Clarke County65
Craig County1 or 21 or 2
Culpeper County87
Danville city88
Dickenson County33
Dinwiddie County98
Emporia city33
Fairfax County6961
Fauquier County1815
Floyd County1 or 21 or 2
Fluvanna County1 or 21 or 2
Franklin County129
Frederick County1716
Fredericksburg city1 or 21 or 2
Galax city41 or 2
Giles County1 or 21 or 2
Gloucester County44
Goochland County55
Grayson County31 or 2
Greene County75
Greensville County107
Halifax County1413
Hampton city66
Hanover County1212
Harrisonburg city31 or 2
Henrico County1110
Henry County1715
Highland County44
Isle of Wight County119
James City County66
King and Queen County44
King George County1411
King William County1 or 21 or 2
Lancaster County1 or 21 or 2
Lee County65
Lexington city1 or 21 or 2
Loudoun County1413
Louisa County55
Lunenburg County33
Lynchburg city87
Madison County31 or 2
Manassas city33
Martinsville city1 or 21 or 2
Mathews County1 or 21 or 2
Mecklenburg County77
Middlesex County1 or 21 or 2
Montgomery County108
Nelson County86
New Kent County98
Newport News city1818
Norfolk city3533
Northampton County1010
Northumberland County1 or 21 or 2
Nottoway County55
Orange County99
Page County65
Patrick County76
Petersburg city108
Pittsylvania County2825
Portsmouth city44
Powhatan County33
Prince Edward County44
Prince George County1412
Prince William County3832
Pulaski County77
Radford city1 or 21 or 2
Richmond city2121
Richmond County43
Roanoke city1010
Roanoke County108
Rockbridge County88
Rockingham County1312
Russell County87
Salem city1 or 21 or 2
Scott County86
Shenandoah County1411
Smyth County55
Southampton County1513
Spotsylvania County1511
Stafford County2516
Staunton city1 or 21 or 2
Suffolk city1413
Surry County64
Sussex County74
Tazewell County1 or 21 or 2
Virginia Beach city3027
Warren County1 or 21 or 2
Washington County1212
Westmoreland County44
Williamsburg city1 or 21 or 2
Wise County98
Wythe County1511
York County77

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1990 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, 1990
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.23424.7%
6 a.m. to noon16016.9%
Noon to 6 p.m.26327.7%
6 p.m. to midnight29130.7%
Table 4.Virginia: fatal crashes by weekday, 1990
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday16517.3%
Monday9810.3%
Tuesday10010.5%
Wednesday919.5%
Thursday12713.3%
Friday15916.7%
Saturday21322.4%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Virginia fatal crashes in 1990. https://fatalroads.com/state/virginia/1990/. 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 1990. 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 1990 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 1990 was in Virginia?

Virginia had 1,079 of the 44,599 deaths in the United States in 1990. That is 2.4 percent.

In how many counties of Virginia did FARS record a fatal crash in 1990?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 117 counties of Virginia in 1990.

How many fatal crashes in Virginia in 1990 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 419 of 953 fatal crashes in 1990.