Fatal Crashes Only
This report covers fatal crashes only, from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System — the federal census of every crash on a US public road that killed someone within 30 days. It does not include injury or property-damage-only crashes, and its totals are not comparable with the all-severity crash reports published elsewhere on this site.
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YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MISSISSIPPI · SEPTEMBER 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
56 CRASHES IN
MISSISSIPPI
SEPTEMBER 2023
In September 2023, Mississippi experienced 56 fatal crashes, a decrease from 62 fatal crashes in September 2022. This represents a 9.68% reduction in fatal crashes year-over-year. Overall fatalities also decreased by 13.24%, falling from 68 to 59.
56
▼ -9.7%was 62
Total Crash Events
59
▼ -13.2%was 68
Persons Killed
39
▼ -22.0%was 50
Persons Injured
4
▼ -20.0%was 5
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (59) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (56) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, fatal crashes in Mississippi decreased year-over-year, with 56 fatal crashes recorded in September 2023 compared to 62 in September 2022, marking a 9.68% reduction. Fatalities also saw a notable decrease of 13.24%, falling from 68 to 59. Injuries decreased by 22%, from 50 to 39.
4
Hit-and-Run Crashes — September 2023
▼ -20.0% vs prior (5)
Hit-and-run fatal crashes decreased from 5 in the prior period to 4 in the current period. The hit-and-run rate also saw a slight decrease, moving from 8.1% of fatal crashes to 7.1%.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
8
Pedestrians Killed
51
Motorists Killed
0
Pedestrians Injured
39
Motorists Injured
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for fatal crashes shifted from Saturday in the prior period, which had 14 fatal crashes, to Friday in the current period, also with 14 fatal crashes. The peak hour for fatal crashes moved from 8 PM with 6 fatal crashes in the prior period to 9 PM with 5 fatal crashes in the current period.
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Road & Environmental Conditions
Clear weather remained the predominant condition for fatal crashes in both periods, though the number of fatal crashes in clear conditions decreased from 57 to 51. Fatal crashes in rainy conditions remained stable at 2, while those in cloudy conditions decreased from 2 to 1. Fatal crashes occurring in daylight decreased from 33 in the prior period to 20 in the current period. Conversely, fatal crashes in 'Dark - Not Lighted' conditions increased from 19 to 22. Fatal crashes during dawn also increased from 1 to 3.
Weather
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Lighting condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
Chevrolet became the leading vehicle make in current fatal crashes with 15, an increase from 13 in the prior period. Dodge, which was the top make in the prior period with 13, saw a decrease and is no longer among the top three. Nissan/Datsun fatal crashes decreased from 11 to 6. The 0-15 age group saw an increase in persons involved in fatal crashes from 7 to 12, and the 16-20 age group increased from 10 to 17. Conversely, the 35-44 age group experienced a significant decrease from 30 to 17, and the 65+ age group also decreased from 21 to 9.
Top Vehicle Makes (78 vehicles)
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
7 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (122 persons with recorded sex)
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Fatal crashes in 55 mph speed zones decreased from 20 in the prior period to 14 in the current period. Crashes in 45 mph zones also decreased from 10 to 8, and in 65 mph zones from 11 to 8. Conversely, fatal crashes in 35 mph zones increased from 5 to 7, and in 70 mph zones from 3 to 5.
Fatal crashes by zone: 25 mph: 1 of 1 (100%) · 30 mph: 2 of 2 (100%) · 35 mph: 7 of 7 (100%) · 40 mph: 1 of 1 (100%) · 45 mph: 8 of 8 (100%) · 50 mph: 3 of 3 (100%) · 55 mph: 14 of 14 (100%) · 60 mph: 1 of 1 (100%) · 65 mph: 8 of 8 (100%) · 70 mph: 5 of 5 (100%)
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Manner of Collision
The dominant manner of collision remained 'The First Harmful Event was Not a Collision with a Motor Vehicle in Transport,' increasing from 33 fatal crashes (53.2%) in the prior period to 37 fatal crashes (66.1%) in the current period. Angle collisions decreased from 14 fatal crashes to 8, while front-to-front collisions decreased significantly from 13 fatal crashes to 3.
Manner of Collision
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Vehicle Type
The most common vehicle body types involved in fatal crashes in the current period were 4-door sedans and light pickups, both with 18 occurrences, down from 28 and 21 respectively in the prior period. Fatal crashes involving two-wheel motorcycles decreased from 6 in the prior period to 4 in the current period. Truck-tractors remained stable with 6 fatal crashes in both periods.
Vehicle Type
Showing top 9 of 15 reported. 6 additional (6 total) not shown: Minivan (Chrysler Town and Country, Caravan, Grand Caravan, Voyager, Voyager, Honda-Odyssey, ...), Station Wagon (excluding van and truck based), Unenclosed Three Wheel Motorcycle / Unenclosed Autocycle (1 Rear Wheel), Convertible(excludes sun-roof,t-bar), 5-door/4-door hatchback, 3-door/2-door hatchback.
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
Rural vs Urban
Fatal crashes on rural trafficways decreased from 48 in the prior period to 35 in the current period, while urban fatal crashes increased from 14 to 19. Rural areas continue to account for a larger share of fatal crashes compared to urban areas in both periods, which often correlates with higher speeds and longer EMS response times.
Rural vs Urban
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Roadway Functional Class
Major Collector roads saw an increase in fatal crashes from 11 in the prior period to 18 in the current period, becoming the class with the most fatal crashes. Fatal crashes on Principal Arterial roads decreased from 20 to 15, while Minor Arterial fatal crashes also decreased from 15 to 6. Interstate fatal crashes increased from 4 to 6.
Roadway Functional Class
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Roadway Ownership
State Highway Agencies continued to account for the highest number of fatal crashes, though decreasing from 40 in the prior period to 35 in the current period. County Highway Agencies saw a decrease from 17 to 13 fatal crashes. Conversely, City or Municipal Highway Agencies experienced an increase in fatal crashes from 5 to 8.
Roadway Ownership
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Person Type
Drivers remained the most common person type involved in fatal crashes, though their count decreased from 95 in the prior period to 78 in the current period. Passengers involved in fatal crashes decreased from 44 to 39. Pedestrians involved in fatal crashes increased from 5 to 8, while bicyclists were involved in 1 fatal crash in the prior period but none in the current period.
Person Type
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Person Injury Severity
The number of fatalities (K) decreased from 68 in the prior period to 59 in the current period. Persons with serious injuries (A) decreased from 21 to 16, and those with minor injuries (B) decreased from 23 to 12. Conversely, persons with possible injuries (C) increased from 4 to 10.
Person Injury Severity
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Occupant Safety Equipment
The number of persons reported as using 'Shoulder and Lap Belt' decreased significantly from 77 in the prior period to 41 in the current period. Concurrently, the count of 'None Used/Not Applicable' increased from 42 to 48. The share of unknown restraint use also increased from 14 to 20.
Occupant Safety Equipment
"Other" combines 1 smaller categories (1 records): Booster Seat (1).
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Point of Impact
The '12 Clock Point' remained the dominant point of impact in fatal crashes, though its count decreased from 66 in the prior period to 46 in the current period. The '6 Clock Point' saw an increase from 2 in the prior period to 9 in the current period. The '1 Clock Point' remained stable with 5 occurrences in both periods.
Point of Impact
"Other" combines 4 smaller categories (4 records): Reported as Unknown (1), 8 Clock Point (1), 9 Clock Point (1), 10 Clock Point (1).
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Vehicle unit records
Vehicles Per Crash
Single-vehicle fatal crashes increased from 31 in the prior period to 35 in the current period. Two-vehicle fatal crashes decreased from 28 to 19. Multi-vehicle fatal crashes involving three vehicles decreased from 3 to 1, while a fatal crash involving four vehicles appeared in the current period.
Vehicles Per Crash
Source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · Federal fatal-crash census · 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Crash-level records
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes), accessed programmatically via the NHTSA FARS Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: NHTSA FARS Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30
- Report generated: August 5, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-09-01 through 2023-09-30 (30 days)
- Geographic scope: Mississippi
- Total crash records analyzed: 56
- Total persons involved: 125
- Total vehicles involved: 78
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "Mississippi Crash Intelligence Report: September 2023." Published August 5, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. Data source: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes), NHTSA FARS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/mississippi/fatal/statewide/september-2023-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: NHTSA FARS (Fatal Crashes) · NHTSA FARS
Period: 2023-09-01 – 2023-09-30
Generated: August 5, 2026 · All rights reserved
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