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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

crashapi (development version)

  • New fars_value_labels() returns value labels (the decoded value for each code) for FARS (1975-2024) and CRSS (2016-2024) variables by year, built from the SAS format files NHTSA publishes with each year of data. New decode_fars() uses these labels to decode FARS or CRSS data with decode = "names" (add …NAME columns), decode = "replace" (replace codes with factors of decoded values for categorical variables), or decode = "labelled" (add value labels with haven::labelled()). get_fars() gains the same decode argument (with an additional "none" option) and adds …NAME columns by default where they are missing (FARS data before 2015) (#4).
  • New fars_variables() returns year-specific variable labels for FARS and CRSS variables from the SAS data files NHTSA publishes with each year of data. Variable labels from these files are now used (before fars_vars_labels) when the table and year are known, which labels variables added in recent years, discontinued variables, and CRSS-only variables (e.g. WEIGHT).
  • fars_vars_labels adds title case labels for columns only returned by the CrashAPI (e.g. nested list columns from get_fars_cases(), STATEINITIAL, and vPIC variables in the VINDERIVED table), so every column returned by the CrashAPI now has a variable label. Variable labels from the SAS data files are used for variables that were only added in later years.
  • get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() now retry failed downloads, give a clearer error when a file isn’t available, and no longer leave a partially downloaded zip file in the cache if a download fails.
  • Breaking change: get_fars() is redesigned to return a FARS data table (e.g. accident, person, or vehicle) for one or more states, an optional county, and one or more years, similar to stats19::get_stats19(). Data for a state from 2010 onwards comes from the CrashAPI and national data, Puerto Rico, or data before 2010 comes from zipped data files (set source to choose). Tables are filtered by county directly or by matching crashes in the county from the accident table. The api, cases, vehicles, details, format, pr, path, and download arguments are removed; use get_fars_crashes(), get_fars_cases(), get_fars_crash_list(), get_fars_summary(), or get_fars_year() for other CrashAPI endpoints.
  • Breaking change: get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() now convert zipped CSV files to parquet files cached in the user cache directory (or getOption("crashapi.cache_dir")) and remove the zip and CSV files unless keep_files = TRUE. Later calls read the cached files without downloading the data again unless overwrite = TRUE. With read = FALSE, they return the parquet file paths named by table (or a list named by year for multiple years). crashapi now imports nanoparquet.
  • crashapi now requires R 4.1.0 or later, matching its dependencies and its use of the native pipe.
  • Fix package to use the current CrashAPI base URL and browser headers (broken since January 2025).
  • Breaking change: required arguments now come before year in get_fars_crashes() (state, county), get_fars_cases() (state, cases), get_fars_crash_list(), get_fars_summary(), get_fars_year(), get_fars_crash_vehicles() (state, make, model, model_year, body_type), and get_fars_crash_persons() (state, age, sex, seat, injury). Calls that pass year by position need to name it.
  • get_fars_crash_persons() now works. age, sex, seat, and injury are all required since the CrashAPI returns an error unless all four are provided (contrary to NHTSA’s documentation), and names (e.g. sex = "female", seat = "front left", injury = "fatal") are converted to codes. The occupants and nonoccupants arguments are removed since the seat position determines whether occupants or non-occupants are returned.
  • get_fars_crash_vehicles() now requires make, model, model_year, and body_type since the CrashAPI returns an error unless all four are provided, and accepts names or numeric IDs for make, model, and body_type (previously only character IDs worked).
  • Data from 2024 (released in April 2026) is now supported and the default year for all functions is getOption("crashapi.year", 2024). Use options(crashapi.year = 2022) to set a different default year for the session.
  • Breaking change: the start_year and end_year arguments are removed. Functions for API endpoints that take a range of years (get_fars_crashes(), get_fars_crash_list(), get_fars_summary(), get_fars_year(), get_fars_crash_vehicles(), and get_fars_crash_persons()) now use the minimum and maximum of year as the start and end year, with a message if year has gaps.
  • fars_vars() supports multiple years and returns a year column.
  • get_fars_crashes() errors with a clear message if county is missing.
  • get_fars() and get_fars_crashes() now error if county can’t be matched to a county in state (e.g. an ambiguous name like “Baltimore” or an invalid FIPS code) instead of filtering by the state FIPS code and returning no rows.
  • Matching state and county names now returns FIPS codes for valid values when some values are invalid and drops county names that match more than one county (e.g. “Baltimore”) with a warning asking for a more specific name.
  • get_fars_cases(details = "events") and get_fars_cases(details = "vehicles") now return details for all cases instead of only the first case, and get_fars_cases() errors clearly if no case details are found.
  • get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() now error before downloading if read = TRUE and format = "sas".
  • read_crashapi() no longer errors for responses without results and returns NULL with the CrashAPI message.
  • get_fars_cases() supports one year for each case number, and get_fars_crashes(details = TRUE) now works for multiple years by using the case year for each crash.
  • get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() now read CSV files from the folder inside newer zip files, which previously caused read = TRUE to fail for most recent years.
  • get_crss_zip(year = 2019, aux = TRUE) now handles the misspelled file name on the NHTSA site, and get_crss_zip() is documented with a description of CRSS and a link to the official CRSS page.
  • get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() warn if geometry = TRUE and the accident table has no coordinate columns (e.g. CRSS data or older FARS data) instead of silently returning a data frame.
  • get_fars_zip(pr = TRUE) now uses the correct file name for Puerto Rico data and errors for years without Puerto Rico data (1975-1977 and 1979). get_fars_zip(year = 1996, aux = TRUE) now handles the misspelled file name on the NHTSA site.
  • get_fars_zip() and get_crss_zip() support multiple years and return a list named by year.
  • format_crashes(), get_crss_zip(), get_fars(), get_fars_cases(), get_fars_crash_list(), get_fars_crash_persons(), get_fars_crash_vehicles(), get_fars_crashes(), get_fars_summary(), get_fars_year(), and get_fars_zip() gain a var_labels argument. When "attribute" (the default), each column with a matching variable in fars_vars_labels gets a "label" attribute (use "none" to skip variable labels), which is shown by View() and used by packages such as gt and gtsummary. Where a variable appears in more than one FARS data file, the label for the table being read is used.
  • Variable labels now prefer labels for current variables over discontinued ones, match names case-insensitively when there is no exact match (e.g. CASEYEAR), label …NAME columns from their coded variable (e.g. BODY_TYPNAME from BODY_TYP), and label nested data frames in list columns returned by get_fars_cases().
  • format_crashes() now reorders columns, converts coordinate and count columns, and appends date, time, and datetime columns as documented. Previously, a faulty check skipped this step, so get_fars_crashes(), get_fars_crash_list(), and get_fars_summary() returned unformatted data. Column names are kept as returned by the API, and columns not found in fars_vars_labels are kept at the end.
  • get_fars_year() now supports the “RACE” (2019 onwards) and “TRAILERVINDERIVED” (2016 onwards) tables.
  • get_fars_year() now sends the same browser headers as other API requests when reading CSV data or downloading a file (download = TRUE), and returns the downloaded file path invisibly.
  • get_fars_year() returns the data with a warning when geometry = TRUE and the table has no coordinate columns, instead of downloading a file.

crashapi 0.1.2

  • Update year range to cover 2022 data.

crashapi 0.1.1.9

crashapi 0.1.1

CrashAPI now has data from 2010 to 2020. get_fars_year() is also updated to support multiple years and to include a state parameter which makes it much easier to use.

  • refactor: update 2019 -> 2020 max year
  • feat: add geometry and state parameter support to get_fars_year()
  • refactor: set default crs to NULL and switch to use sfext::df_to_sf
  • refactor: switch to use httr2 package + read_crashapi() for data access (except for zip)
  • test: add tests and set up code coverage tests

crashapi 0.1.0.12

crashapi 0.1.0.11

  • feat: add get_fars() function that uses an api parameter to call different APIs
  • feat: import helper functions from {tigris} package to improve renamed lookup_fips() function
  • feat: Add get_fars_crash_vehicles to support downloading crash data by vehicle make, model, and/or body type
  • fix: get_fars_year was not using the correct query URL if download = TRUE
  • refactor: relocate helper functions to utils.R
  • refactor: rename make_query() helper function to read_api()
  • refactor: update validate_year() helper function to work with {checkmate} package
  • refactor: update default values for year, start_year, end_year and other parameters
  • docs: Update README and pkgdown site

crashapi 0.1.0.10

  • feat: get_fars_zip added to provide alternate (non-API) method for downloading zipped CSV or SAS data files
  • fix: get_fars_crash_details updated to return data frame w/o list columns
  • feat: get_fars_crash_details updated to optionally return vehicle or crash events data frames

crashapi 0.1.0.9

  • docs: Revise README and update pkgdown site
  • fix: Add missing imports to DESCRIPTION
  • fix: Update county_to_fips() to support partial county names, e.g. “Adams” instead of “Adams County” and avoiding matching multiple counties (closes #1)
  • feat: Update get_fars_crash_details() to return sf objects using geometry parameter
  • refactor: Set up API calls w/ unexported utility function (make_query)

crashapi 0.1.0

  • Added functions for accessing FARS APIs including Get Crash List Information, Get Crash Details, Get Crashes By Location, Get Summary Counts, and Get FARS Data By Year (documented in get_fars())
  • Added functions for accessing FARS APIs including Get Variables and Get Variable Attributes (documented in get_fars_vars())
  • Added fars_terms data with terms and definitions from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website
  • Added a NEWS.md file to track changes to the package.
  • Set up a pkgdown website