Crash Fatality Reporting

Overview

FLHSMV must be notified within 24 hours of any traffic fatality (F) or any serious bodily injury (SBI) crash where a blood sample was drawn from any driver.

FSBI crashes should be reported via DAVID.   The DAVID reporting system will ask for basic information.   Information such as weather conditions, use of safety equipment, etc., is not needed.   HSMV will obtain this information from the final crash report.

Federal Criteria for a Traffic Fatality

Per federal guidelines, reportable motor vehicle traffic fatality must meet the following criteria for Injury Severity (5) - Fatal (within 30 days):

1. The death must occur within 30 days (720 hours) of the motor vehicle crash.

2. The death must be a direct cause of the crash and not the result of natural causes, heart attack, suicide, homicide, or overdose.

3. The death must occur on a public roadway.

If there is a death and this criteria is not met, Injury Severity (6) - Non-traffic fatality should be used.

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is a national data collection system that contains information on all known police-reported motor vehicle crashes in which there was at least one fatality.

FARS federal reporting provides statistical data that is used to support federal funding requests (engineering/education/outreach), improve EMS response, identify or improve safety features installed on vehicles, and identify traffic control device needs.

The FLHSMV FARS team reviews and analyzes crash data.   They gather information from various data sources to ensure that all traffic fatalities are reported accurately and completely.

Common Fatality Report Discrepancies

Common discrepancies found by FL FARS include -

The wrong person is listed as Injury Severity (5) - Fatal

Conflicting injury severity between the reporting officer and the medical examiner (ME)

Missing crash report, location, person, or name

Missing toxicology results and ME cause of death

Incorrect crash dates

Multiple crash reports for the same occurrence, for example on county lines

A person is listed multiple times

FLHSMV will contact the LE agency Point of Contact (POC) to request that the erroneous crash report be corrected via crash update.   They will include a justification or reason within the request.