Fatal RoadsSearch

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

West Virginia fatal crashes in 1981

FARS records 410 deaths in 354 fatal crashes in West Virginia in 1981.

In 1980 it records 523 deaths in 464 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in West Virginia fell by 21.6% from 1980 to 1981. In the United States they fell by 3.5%.

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

1981 beside 1980

Table 1.West Virginia in 1981, in 1980 and the United States in 1981
FigureWest Virginia, 1981West Virginia, 1980United States, 1981
Deaths41052349,301
Fatal crashes35446444,000
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinkingn/a80n/a

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

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 1981

Table 2.West Virginia: counties with a fatal crash in 1981, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Barbour County55
Berkeley County87
Boone County1210
Braxton County96
Brooke County66
Cabell County88
Calhoun County43
Fayette County1513
Gilmer County44
Greenbrier County95
Hampshire County75
Hancock County98
Hardy County87
Harrison County1413
Jackson County44
Jefferson County64
Kanawha County4840
Lewis County55
Lincoln County33
Logan County1313
Marion County77
Marshall County1 or 21 or 2
Mason County66
McDowell County66
Mercer County1511
Mineral County77
Mingo County1714
Monongalia County107
Monroe County1 or 21 or 2
Morgan County1 or 21 or 2
Nicholas County1312
Ohio County76
Pendleton County33
Pleasants County1 or 21 or 2
Pocahontas County1 or 21 or 2
Preston County74
Putnam County1111
Raleigh County2218
Randolph County33
Ritchie County44
Roane County41 or 2
Taylor County54
Tyler County43
Upshur County44
Wayne County1411
Webster County1 or 21 or 2
Wetzel County1 or 21 or 2
Wirt County1 or 21 or 2
Wood County1616
Wyoming County1311

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1981 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.West Virginia: fatal crashes by time of day, 1981
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.6719.9%
6 a.m. to noon5215.4%
Noon to 6 p.m.9427.9%
6 p.m. to midnight12436.8%
Table 4.West Virginia: fatal crashes by weekday, 1981
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday6217.5%
Monday3610.2%
Tuesday4913.8%
Wednesday349.6%
Thursday4813.6%
Friday6117.2%
Saturday6418.1%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. West Virginia fatal crashes in 1981. https://fatalroads.com/state/west-virginia/1981/. 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 1981. 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 1981 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 1981 was in West Virginia?

West Virginia had 410 of the 49,301 deaths in the United States in 1981. That is 0.8 percent.

In how many counties of West Virginia did FARS record a fatal crash in 1981?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 50 counties of West Virginia in 1981.