Notice2025-20099
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract
NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an extension of a currently approved information collection. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval that collect data on motor vehicle crashes involving fatalities.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 220 (Tuesday, November 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51812-51815]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20099]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0721]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Non-Traffic
Surveillance (NTS)
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for extension of a
currently approved information collection.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an
extension of a currently approved information collection. Before a
Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must
receive approval from OMB. Under procedures established by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal
agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of
information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously
approved collections. This document describes a collection of
information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval that collect
data on motor vehicle crashes involving fatalities.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 20, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2025-0721 through any of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
<bullet> Fax: (202) 493-2251.
<bullet> Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/privacy">https://www.transportation.gov/privacy</a>.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets via internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Barbara Rhea, State Data Reporting
Systems Division (NSA-120), (202) 560-6724, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, Room W53-304, U.S. Department of Transportation,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Please identify the
relevant collection of information by referring to its OMB Control
Number (2127-0006).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed
collection of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a
document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and
otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies
concerning each proposed collection of information. The OMB has
promulgated regulations describing what must be included in such a
document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must
ask for public comment on the following: (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic
submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA
asks for public comments on the following proposed collection of
information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
Title: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Non-Traffic
Surveillance (NTS).
OMB Control Number: 2127-0006.
Form Number(s): NHTSA Form 2100.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection of
information.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information
NHTSA is authorized by 49 U.S.C. 30182 and 23 U.S.C. 402, 403 &
405, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58)
and the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007 (K.T.
Safety Act) (Pub. L. 110-189) to collect data on motor vehicle traffic
crashes to aid in the identification of issues and the development,
implementation, and evaluation of motor vehicle and highway safety
countermeasures to reduce fatalities and the property damage associated
with motor vehicle crashes. Using this authority, NHTSA established the
Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Non-Traffic Surveillance
(NTS), which collect data on fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Among
other things, the information aids in the establishment and enforcement
of motor vehicle
[[Page 51813]]
regulations and highway safety programs.
The FARS data collection started in 1975 and is a census of all
defined crashes involving fatalities in the country. The FARS collects
annual data from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto
Rico under cooperative agreements. State employees collect and process
information from existing State documents including police crash
reports as well as driver license, vehicle registration, highway
roadway classification, death certificates, toxicology reports and
Emergency Medical Service reports. NHTSA uses FARS data for research
and analysis in support of motor vehicle regulations and highway safety
programs. This supports NHTSA's mission by providing the agency vital
information about fatal crashes. The FARS data comprises a national
database that tracks trends in fatalities and quantifying problems in
highway safety.
The Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS) is an automated data collection
effort for collecting information about non-traffic crashes and non-
crash incidents. The NTS data provide counts and details regarding
fatalities and injuries that occur in non-traffic crashes and in non-
crash incidents. The NTS non-traffic crash data are obtained through
NHTSA's data collection efforts for the Crash Report Sampling System
(CRSS),\1\ the Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS),\2\ and FARS.
NTS also includes data outside of NHTSA's own data collections. NTS'
non-crash injury data are based upon emergency department records from
a special study conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission's
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) All Injury
Program. NTS non-crash fatality data are derived from death certificate
information from the Centers for Disease Control's National Vital
Statistics System. This ICR only seeks approval for the collection of
NTS data for NTS that comes from the FARS data collection effort.
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\1\ The CRSS information collection is assigned OMB Control No.
2127-0714.
\2\ The CISS information collection is assigned OMB Control No.
2127-0706.
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Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information
NHTSA's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce
economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. In order to
accomplish this mission, NHTSA needs high-quality data on motor vehicle
crashes. The FARS supports this mission by providing the agency with
vital information about all crashes involving fatalities that occur on
our nation's roadways. The FARS does this by collection national
fatality information directly from existing State files and documents
and aggregate them for research and analysis.
FARS data is used extensively by NHTSA program and research
offices, other DOT modes, States, and local jurisdictions. The highway
research community uses the FARS data for trend analysis, problem
identification, and program evaluation. Congress uses the FARS data for
making decisions concerning safety programs. The FARS data are also
available upon request to anyone interested in highway safety.
Affected Public: States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 52.
Frequency: On occasion.
NHTSA has established cooperative agreements with the 50 States,
the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to report a standard set of
data on each fatal crash in their jurisdictions. State respondents
report based on the occurrence of crashes involving fatalities. When a
fatal crash occurs, State employees extract and transcribe information
from existing files and input the information into FARS, with the
frequency of reporting determined by the frequency of fatal crashes
occurring in the respondent's jurisdiction.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 118,762.
For both FARS and NTS, there are 52 respondents (50 States, the
District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) reporting on approximately
38,536 fatal crash cases per year. Of these cases, 37,951 are reported
to FARS and approximately 585 are identified and reported as non-
traffic fatal crashes (NTS).
The annual burden has increased from when NHTSA last sought
approval for this collection from 107,209 to 118,762 hours (an increase
of 11,553 hours). The adjustment in burden hours is due to the increase
in the complexity of coding the FARS cases and an increase in the
number of fatal crashes across most States. The increase also accounts
for the time to process the non-traffic fatalities for NTS.
Furthermore, while time for manually inputting data has decreased with
States implementing systems to electronically transfer police report
data that prepopulate NHTSA's data systems, including FARS,\3\ the
overall burden increased because, over the past two years, there has
been an increase in staff turnover at the State level, adding an
increase in administrative hours, training, and coding assistance to
continue operations.
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\3\ The EDT information collection is assigned OMB Control No.
2127-0753.
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The State employee (or employees depending on the number of fatal
crashes per year occurring in the jurisdiction) acquires and codes the
required information, as fatal crashes occur, in the FARS records-based
system. For FARS, although there is only one information collection,
NHTSA calculates the total burden using four burden categories: (1)
FARS Manual Protocol Case Entry, (2) overhead burden for FARS in States
without EDT, (3) FARS coding in States with EDT, and (4) FARS EDT
mapping maintenance.
FARS Manual Protocol Case Entry
NHTSA estimates that there are currently 30 States providing crash
reports (including case materials) via manual protocol. For these
respondents, NHTSA estimates that it takes analysts approximately 4.25
hours to collect fatal crash information and code a FARS case entry in
the FARS data entry system. This estimate is based on historical
knowledge of the average number of analysts, full- and part-time, back-
up analysts, FARS supervisors, and coding assistance respondents needed
to complete an annual FARS file. NHTSA estimates that, on average,
18,007 cases are collected and coded annually using this access method.
Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total annual burden associated with FARS
Manual Protocol case entry to be approximately 76,530 hours annually
(18,007 cases x 4.25 hours = 76,530 hours).
FARS Manual Protocol In-Kind Process Support
In addition to the time for each crash entry, some respondents
using the FARS Manual Protocol are also expected to incur overhead
burden time. NHTSA estimates that 8 States provide overhead support and
that the total annual burden for this support is 2,000 hours, or an
average of 250 hours per respondent. This burden includes hours spent
by supervisors and State managers responding to and supporting FARS
operations that are not accounted for in the coding hours every year,
including supporting data acquisition and other associated tasks.
FARS EDT Mapping Maintenance
NHTSA estimates that there are approximately 22 States already
participating in Electronic Data Transfer
[[Page 51814]]
(EDT). For these respondents, PAR data are automatically transferred
from the State's centralized crash database to NHTSA's CDAN system. The
crash data are then prepopulated in NHTSA's crash data systems,
including FARS.
NHTSA estimates the burden to maintain the protocol is estimated at
two hours per State (respondent) or a total of 44 hours per year (22
States x 2 hours). This represents time to monitor case quality and
timeliness, conduct quality control processes, and maintain
communications with NHTSA and its contractors to ensure accurate data
transfer. The specific task associated with this maintenance of effort
is referred to as ``mapping''. Upon becoming an EDT State, the
respondent participates in an initial mapping process. The process
requires an alignment between the State Specific Coding Instructions
and the FARS Coding and Validation guidance.\4\ During quality control
processes, which are conducted year-round, data anomalies may be
detected, at which time action must be taken to review and ultimately
correct the shifts in the data. This process, while managed by the
Office of Data Acquisition, requires concurrence from the respondent,
which is what the burden represents.
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\4\ The burden associated with this task is accounted for under
NHTSA ICR that covers EDT (OMB Control Number 2127-0753).
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FARS EDT Manual Case Entry for Supporting Case Materials
Participation in EDT reduces but does not eliminate the manual
entry of data into FARS. Although information from PARs is pre-
populated into the system, EDT State respondents must still collect and
enter supporting case materials, such as driver records, toxicology
reports, death certificate information, and coroner's/medical examiners
reports to complete a FARS case. NHTSA estimates that completing each
case entry in an EDT States takes 2 hours, which is slightly less than
half the time the process is estimated to take for non-EDT States. On
average, NHTSA estimates that 19,944 FARS cases for the 22 EDT States
will have pre-populated data. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates the total
burden associated with completing the FARS case entries for these cases
to be 39,888 hours (19,944 cases x 2 hours = 39,888 hours).
Total Burden for FARS
The collective and cumulative efforts of all 52 respondents results
in an estimated annual burden of 118,462 hours (76,530 hours + 2,000
hours + 44 hours + 39,888 hours). Table 1 provides a summary of the
burden associated with FARS.
Table 1--Burden Category Estimates and Total Burden for FARS
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Total annual
Number of Number of Burden hours burden hours
Burden category responses respondents per response per burden
category
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FARS EDT (mapping maintenance)................. N/A 22 2 44
FARS EDT Manual Case Entry (supporting case 19,944 22 2 39,888
materials)....................................
FARS Manual Protocol Case Entry Process 18,007 30 4.25 76,530
(including supporting case materials).........
FARS Manual Protocol In-kind Process Support... N/A 8 250 2,000
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Total...................................... 37,951 52 3.13 118,462
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NTS Data Collection
Non-traffic fatal crashes are collected by approximately 25 States
as part of the FARS data collection process. NHTSA estimates that it
takes twelve hours per respondent annually to account for NTS cases.
Therefore, NHTSA estimates that the total burden for NTS case
identification and coding is 300 hours annually (25 respondents x 12
hours).
Burden for FARS and NTS
NHTSA estimates the total annual burden for the two information
collections, FARS and NTS, is 118,762 hours per year (118,462 hours +
300 hours). Table 2 provides a summary of the burdens for the two
information collections.
Table 2--Summary of Burdens for FARS and NTS
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Burden per Hours per Total burden
Information collection Responses Respondents response respondent hours
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FARS............................ 37,951 52 3.13 2,278.12 118,462
NTS............................. 585 25 0.5 12 300
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Total....................... 38,239 .............. .............. .............. 118,762
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To estimate the labor costs associated with the two information
collections, NHTSA looked primarily at the annualized reimbursements
NHTSA provides to States under the FARS Cooperative Agreements and the
amount of ``in-kind'' kind funding provided by the States. Annually,
NHTSA provides approximately $7.1 million to States to go toward the
labor costs associated with this information collection. Additionally,
because collecting fatal information is mutually beneficial to the
Federal Government and the respondents, eight State respondents have
provided ``in-kind funding'' to cover State overhead costs associated
with managing FARS operations. While ``in-kind funding'' varies from
respondent to respondent, the average annualized labor costs are
estimated at $50,000 per in-kind respondent, for a total of $400,000 in
annual in-kind contributions (8 States x
[[Page 51815]]
$50,000). Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total cost associated with
labor hours to be approximately $7.5 million per year ($7.1 million +
$400K), or $63.15 per hour ($7.5 million / 118,762 hours).
Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $0.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Chou-Lin Chen,
Associate Administrator for the National Center for Statistics and
Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2025-20099 Filed 11-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 18, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.