Free Demo · No Signup · .NET 10 / Blazor

FARS Manifest

Code a fatal crash's FARS-only elements once, beside the complete case file.

Every fatal crash a state reports ends up in NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). A state's crash report already covers most of what FARS asks for — but not all of it. The rest has to be researched and coded by the state's FARS analyst, usually cold, with the case file open in one window and NHTSA's system in another. FARS Manifest puts the finished crash record, every document in the case, and the FARS-only coding in one workspace, so the coding decision gets made once, with the evidence in front of the analyst.

Try it free — no signup → Request a guided demo →

The demo runs on made-up cases and synthetic report forms, with no sign-in. Nothing is ever sent to NHTSA or to a state system. The user manual opens right from the demo.

The gap it fills

We compared all 148 active elements in NHTSA's FARS/CRSS Coding and Validation Manual (DOT HS 813 798, 2024 edition) against MMUCC 6th Edition. 95 of them map to MMUCC6. The other 53 have no MMUCC6 counterpart, so a state's crash report won't supply them. That includes the precrash and critical-event scheme, ejection and extrication, driver physical descriptors, structured drug-toxicology detail, non-motorist crash typing, and the FARS-only vital-records fields. FARS Manifest codes those 53 elements using the manual's own code lists, copied verbatim from the manual rather than paraphrased. They're organized the way FARS organizes them (Crash, Vehicle, Driver, Precrash, Person, Non-Motorist) and repeat for each vehicle, occupant, and non-motorist.

What the analyst gets

One FARS screen. Notices, a work queue of finished fatal crashes, pre-reports, and transmitted cases are all on one home page, with a day/night switch.
Pre-reports before the report exists. The analyst can log a fatality as soon as they hear about it, from a trooper's call, the coroner, or the news. When the officer's report is finished, FARS Manifest suggests the match on county, crash date, and a shared name, and the analyst confirms it. A fatal that arrives before anyone logged it lands in the work queue, so nothing slips through. A crash that turns out not to be a traffic fatality can be dismissed with a reason, and the dismissal can be undone.
The complete case file. It includes the investigator's report, amendments, supplements, driver reports, lab BAC and toxicology reports, diagrams, and photos, each tagged current, not primary, withdrawn, or restricted. The case file is read-only, and the state decides which documents FARS Manifest may open.
The FARS Data Studio. The report and the coding form sit side by side, and each scrolls on its own. The state's record is shown in plain words, with every code spelled out, for example "3 — Shoulder and Lap Belt Used."
Jump to the officer's entry. Clicking 🔍 next to a state-reported field jumps the report to that box, outlines it, and shows it enlarged. Boxes are lined up automatically even on a crooked scan. If a page can't be lined up reliably, no box is drawn rather than a wrong one.
Reading tools. A reading guide, four magnify levels, scan filters (inverted, high-contrast, grayscale), and a pop-out window for a second monitor. The analyst's choices carry from case to case.
NHTSA gap-coding. The FARS-only elements are laid out the way the FARS manual lays them out, with the manual's element numbers, official code lists, and coding guidance one click away. Vehicle, Driver, and Precrash repeat for each vehicle, and Person and Non-Motorist repeat for each person.
The Alcohol Test, updatable any time. A lab BAC report often arrives weeks or months after the case is sent. FARS Manifest posts a notice, the analyst updates the Alcohol Test under federal guidelines (all three parts or none), and retransmits. The update is also written back to the person on the state's case, so both records agree.
FARS search and the 30-day rule. The analyst can find any crash in the state system, fatal or not. When someone dies within 30 days of a crash that was never reported as fatal, the analyst can send it to management with a note, and pick the new severity code if they know it.
Send and retransmit. Send to NHTSA packages the state's record together with the FARS coding. The Submission Wire XML tab shows exactly what will be sent, and the analyst can copy it.
Admin-maintained code lists. System administrators can edit labels, retire or add codes, and add a new element when NHTSA introduces one, without a software change. Label edits are version-safe: a case coded earlier keeps the label it had.

Built to plug in, not to replace

FARS Manifest works alongside a state's crash-intake system and never replaces it. The state system remains the system of record: it receives the officer reports, builds the case, and keeps the documents. FARS Manifest reads fatal cases from it through a documented HTTP contract. It writes back only what the analyst does: that a case was sent, the FARS coding (kept in FARS tables in a database the state provides), and alcohol-test updates. Analysts sign in with the state's own Active Directory account, and the state system checks every request against its own list of people with FARS access. FARS Manifest never deletes anything; removals and corrections go to the state's management queue. It was designed from the start to work with any state, with no state's codes, forms, or names built in. Bad Marine's own intake-and-review product, The Refinery, is the first system it connects to.

Where it stands today

We're describing it as it is, without overselling it. Everything above works today. It has been tested end to end against a real running crash-records system, and it's documented in a full user manual for FARS analysts. The public demo runs the same application on made-up cases: each visitor gets their own copy, can switch between the FARS Analyst and System Admin roles, and can reset it at any time. Two limits are worth knowing up front:

RBIS is still keyed by hand. NHTSA's RBIS, where FARS cases are entered, has no connection that outside tools can use. The analyst still types the final answers into RBIS. FARS Manifest is where those answers are decided and where the record of the decisions is kept.
No pre-fill from a state's extra fields yet. Many states capture fields beyond MMUCC6, such as license detail or automation level. Pre-filling the matching FARS elements from them is planned but not built.

Try it free — no signup → Request a guided demo →