Fatal RoadsSearch

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

Virginia fatal crashes in 2008

FARS records 825 deaths in 764 fatal crashes in Virginia in 2008.

In 2007 it records 1,027 deaths in 941 fatal crashes.

In 2008 the rate is 10.5 deaths for each 100,000 residents in Virginia and 12.3 in the United States.

By deaths for each 100,000 residents in 2008, Virginia was number 34 of 51, the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Deaths in Virginia fell by 19.7% from 2007 to 2008. In the United States they fell by 9.3%.

In 2008, a driver was recorded as drinking in 44.5% of fatal crashes in Virginia and 32.6% 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

2008 beside 2007

Table 1.Virginia in 2008, in 2007 and the United States in 2008
FigureVirginia, 2008Virginia, 2007United States, 2008
Deaths8251,02737,423
Fatal crashes76494134,172
Deaths for each 100,000 residents10.513.212.3
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking340n/a11,126

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

NHTSA says that its count of drinking drivers is unreliable for 1977, 1981 and 1999 to 2007, because it was derived in a wrong way. This site gives no count for these years.

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 2008

Table 2.Virginia: counties with a fatal crash in 2008, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Accomack County66
Albemarle County1414
Alexandria city44
Alleghany County77
Amelia County97
Amherst County66
Appomattox County55
Arlington County87
Augusta County1716
Bath County1 or 21 or 2
Bedford County99
Bland County1 or 21 or 2
Botetourt County1210
Bristol city1 or 21 or 2
Brunswick County44
Buchanan County95
Buckingham County33
Campbell County1312
Caroline County33
Carroll County1311
Charles City County1 or 21 or 2
Charlotte County33
Charlottesville city1 or 21 or 2
Chesapeake city1514
Chesterfield County3026
Clarke County1 or 21 or 2
Colonial Heights city1 or 21 or 2
Craig County1 or 21 or 2
Culpeper County66
Cumberland County1 or 21 or 2
Danville city55
Dickenson County1 or 21 or 2
Dinwiddie County1312
Emporia city1 or 21 or 2
Fairfax County2929
Fauquier County1110
Floyd County1 or 21 or 2
Fluvanna County127
Franklin County1010
Frederick County77
Fredericksburg city1 or 21 or 2
Giles County54
Gloucester County1210
Goochland County88
Greene County33
Greensville County44
Halifax County1816
Hampton city1413
Hanover County1010
Henrico County1817
Henry County1312
Highland County1 or 21 or 2
Isle of Wight County98
James City County97
King and Queen County33
King George County1 or 21 or 2
King William County1 or 21 or 2
Lancaster County1 or 21 or 2
Lee County55
Loudoun County1111
Louisa County1010
Lunenburg County65
Lynchburg city1 or 21 or 2
Madison County1 or 21 or 2
Martinsville city1 or 21 or 2
Mecklenburg County77
Middlesex County1 or 21 or 2
Montgomery County86
Nelson County1 or 21 or 2
New Kent County33
Newport News city99
Norfolk city1919
Northampton County66
Northumberland County55
Nottoway County1 or 21 or 2
Orange County55
Patrick County77
Petersburg city1 or 21 or 2
Pittsylvania County1615
Portsmouth city44
Powhatan County1 or 21 or 2
Prince Edward County1 or 21 or 2
Prince George County44
Prince William County2524
Pulaski County1 or 21 or 2
Radford city31 or 2
Rappahannock County1 or 21 or 2
Richmond city2019
Richmond County44
Roanoke city66
Roanoke County66
Rockbridge County88
Rockingham County1716
Russell County55
Salem city1 or 21 or 2
Scott County55
Shenandoah County119
Smyth County44
Southampton County43
Spotsylvania County1411
Stafford County1211
Staunton city1 or 21 or 2
Suffolk city1716
Surry County1 or 21 or 2
Sussex County119
Tazewell County66
Virginia Beach city3129
Warren County44
Washington County44
Waynesboro city1 or 21 or 2
Westmoreland County33
Wise County66
Wythe County139
York County88

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 2008 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, 2008
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.15320.0%
6 a.m. to noon14619.1%
Noon to 6 p.m.19225.1%
6 p.m. to midnight27335.7%
Table 4.Virginia: fatal crashes by weekday, 2008
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday12015.7%
Monday9212.0%
Tuesday8711.4%
Wednesday10313.5%
Thursday9612.6%
Friday12015.7%
Saturday14619.1%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Virginia fatal crashes in 2008. https://fatalroads.com/state/virginia/2008/. 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 2008. 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 2008 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 2008 was in Virginia?

Virginia had 825 of the 37,423 deaths in the United States in 2008. That is 2.2 percent.

In how many counties of Virginia did FARS record a fatal crash in 2008?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 114 counties of Virginia in 2008.

How many fatal crashes in Virginia in 2008 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 340 of 764 fatal crashes in 2008.