Method
How we built the Orlando data
Everything on the Orlando data page comes from four free public sources. A script pulls them, a second script turns them into one data file, and the site is rebuilt from that file. Nothing is typed in by hand.
Crashes: NHTSA FARS
The Fatality Analysis Reporting System is NHTSA's census of every crash on a public road in which someone died within 30 days. We download the national accident file for each of the newest 5 published years (2020 to 2024) from static.nhtsa.gov and keep the crashes with STATE 12 (Florida) and COUNTY 95 (Orange), 97 (Osceola) or 117 (Seminole). That leaves 1,365 crashes and 1,453 deaths.
- Road: TWAY_ID, the trafficway name NHTSA records. "I-4 RAMP" and similar are counted with the road. We give state route numbers their local names (SR 50 is Colonial Drive, US 441 is Orange Blossom Trail, SR 91 is Florida's Turnpike).
- Interstate share: ROUTE = 1. Numbered highways (interstate, US and state routes): ROUTE 1 to 3.
- Hour: HOUR, with unknown hours left out. Night means 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. Dark: LGT_COND values 2 and 3, plus 6.
- Map: LATITUDE and LONGITUD as recorded, drawn on a flat projection with no base map.
Limits: FARS counts only fatal crashes, which are a small share of all crashes and of all tows. It says where the worst crashes happen, not where most breakdowns happen. NHTSA revises recent years after release.
Commutes and housing: Census American Community Survey
US Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates for 2020-2024 (release 2024), from api.census.gov, for 43 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the three counties (Orange, Osceola, Seminole).
- Commute 45 minutes or more: B08303 cells 011 to 013 over B08303_001 (workers who don't work from home).
- Drove alone, carpool, transit, work from home: B08301 cells 003 and 004, plus 010 and 021, over B08301_001.
- No vehicle: B25044 cells 003 and 010 over B25044_001.
- Renters: B25003_003 over B25003_001. In buildings of 10 or more units: B25024 cells 007 to 009 over B25024_001.
Limits: survey estimates averaged over five years, with margins of error that grow in small areas.
Heat: NOAA NCEI daily summaries
Daily maximum temperature (TMAX) and precipitation for Orlando International Airport, GHCND station USW00012815. We count days at 90°F and 95°F or hotter in each complete year (at least 350 days reported) from 2016 to 2025, 10 years in all, and average them.
Storms: NOAA HURDAT2
The National Hurricane Center's Atlantic best-track file (hurdat2-1851-2025-092326.txt). We step along each storm's six-hourly track and keep any storm whose track passed within 60 nautical miles (69 statute miles) of downtown Orlando (28.538 N, 81.379 W) with winds of at least 34 knots. "Closest" is the nearest point of the track; "strongest" is the highest wind while inside that circle. This measures how often storms pass close, not damage.
Refresh
A scheduled job re-pulls all four sources once a month, rebuilds the data file and compares a hash of it with the last one. The site is rebuilt and this page's date moves only when the numbers change. NHTSA publishes a new FARS year each spring, new ACS releases arrive each December and HURDAT2 each spring.
Cite this
Orlando Tow Desk, "Orlando crash and road data," https://orlandotowdesk.com/orlando-crash-and-road-data/, data as of October 28, 2026. Sources: NHTSA FARS 2020 to 2024; US Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024; NOAA NCEI; NOAA NHC HURDAT2.