Fatal RoadsSearch

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

West Virginia fatal crashes in 1987

FARS records 471 deaths in 418 fatal crashes in West Virginia in 1987.

In 1986 it records 440 deaths in 386 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in West Virginia rose by 7.0% from 1986 to 1987. In the United States they rose by 0.7%.

In 1987, a driver was recorded as drinking in 45.0% of fatal crashes in West Virginia and 42.1% 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

1987 beside 1986

Table 1.West Virginia in 1987, in 1986 and the United States in 1987
FigureWest Virginia, 1987West Virginia, 1986United States, 1987
Deaths47144046,390
Fatal crashes41838641,438
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking18819117,427

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 1987

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1987 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, 1987
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.9623.6%
6 a.m. to noon7618.7%
Noon to 6 p.m.10826.6%
6 p.m. to midnight12631.0%
Table 4.West Virginia: fatal crashes by weekday, 1987
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday6716.1%
Monday5412.9%
Tuesday4811.5%
Wednesday5012.0%
Thursday5613.4%
Friday6315.1%
Saturday7918.9%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. West Virginia fatal crashes in 1987. https://fatalroads.com/state/west-virginia/1987/. 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 1987. 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 1987 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 1987 was in West Virginia?

West Virginia had 471 of the 46,390 deaths in the United States in 1987. That is 1.0 percent.

In how many counties of West Virginia did FARS record a fatal crash in 1987?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 53 counties of West Virginia in 1987.

How many fatal crashes in West Virginia in 1987 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 188 of 418 fatal crashes in 1987.