Crash Data API for Attorneys & Legal Professionals

Find every fatal crash at any intersection in the United States. FARS API by farsapi.com serves plaintiff attorneys, defense firms, and legal researchers who need crash history for case discovery.

Intersection Crash History for Discovery

Attorneys routinely need to establish that an intersection or road segment has a history of fatal crashes. FARS API provides this with a single query - enter GPS coordinates and get every fatal crash within a specified radius, with full detail on vehicles, persons, and circumstances.

# All fatal crashes within 500 feet of an intersection GET /v1/reports/intersection/preview?lat=30.267&lng=-97.743&radius_feet=500 # Response includes: # - Total crashes and fatalities # - Year range covered # - Most common collision types # - Most dangerous hours # Broader search - 1 mile radius GET /v1/crashes?lat=30.267&lng=-97.743&radius_miles=1 # Pedestrian crashes in a specific county GET /v1/crashes?pedestrian_involved=true&county=Harris

How Attorneys Use FARS API

Plaintiff - Expected vs Actual fatal crashes

Raw crash counts are weak evidence. "20 fatal crashes here over 7 years" is easily countered by "it's a busy road - of course there are crashes." The defensible version uses traffic-volume-adjusted analysis: 17 observed fatal crashes vs 0.5 expected for an Interstate of this AADT - 34 times more than expected. That's the kind of statement that goes in a brief and survives cross-examination because it controls for exposure.

FARS API computes Expected vs Actual automatically for any US intersection by spatially joining each FARS crash to its FHWA HPMS road segment and comparing against per-road-class national baselines (Interstate 0.32 fatal crashes per 100M VMT, Major Collector 1.89). This is the analysis that costs $3,000-5,000 from a transportation engineering consultant. The intersection report includes it for $9.

Plaintiff - Establishing Dangerous Conditions

"This intersection has had 20 fatal crashes in 7 years" is a powerful argument for proving a municipality knew about dangerous conditions. The intersection report gives you this data instantly, with dates, conditions, crash types, and the AADT-adjusted multiple of expected fatalities for each segment.

Defense - Context and Benchmarking

Compare crash rates at a specific location against per-road-class national baselines. A multiple near 1.0 means the location is no more dangerous than typical. The /v1/intelligence/location-risk endpoint returns this calculation for free, no API key required.

Expert Witnesses - Data-Backed Testimony

Traffic safety experts need comprehensive crash data plus traffic volume context. FARS API provides NHTSA FARS data joined to FHWA HPMS road segments, with every numeric field traceable to the official government source. Each report carries a citation-ready report ID and a methodology disclosure suitable for legal exhibits.

Per-Report Pricing for Legal Use

Attorneys don't need monthly API subscriptions. FARS API offers $9 per intersection report - one-time payment, no account required. Get full crash history at any location, download the data, use it for your case. Done.

For firms that need repeated access across multiple cases, the $19/month API plan provides 50k requests/month across all endpoints.

GIS Accident Data API for Location-Based Legal Research

FARS API functions as a GIS accident data API - every crash record includes GPS coordinates queryable by radius. Intersection collision data is available through the preview endpoint (free) and full reports ($9). This is the accident data by location API built for legal workflows: enter coordinates, get crash history. No GIS software required.

Try the Intersection Preview (Free)