Colorado overlap
-1.21%
CrashStory Friday-the-13th crashes versus the other Fridays in those same months, 2013 to 2023
Short answer
Colorado's all-crash data do not show Friday the 13th as an unusually dangerous driving day, while nationwide FARS fatal crashes lean modestly higher on Friday the 13th than on comparable Fridays.
In CrashStory's Colorado data, Friday the 13th averages 102.95 crashes in the 2013-2023 overlap window, versus 104.21 on the other Fridays in those same months.
In nationwide FARS, Friday the 13th averages 105.47 fatal crashes, 6.46% above the other Fridays in those same months.
The combined read is mixed, not myth-confirming. Friday the 13th does not look broadly more crash-heavy in Colorado, but national fatal crashes do run somewhat higher. Without daily trip or VMT exposure data, the safer claim is that the superstition does not produce a clean all-crash effect, while fatal-only national data deserve cautious mention.
What the two datasets disagree on
Colorado is the broader dataset here. It includes all crash severities, not just fatal crashes. In the exact 2013 through 2023 years that overlap with FARS, Colorado Friday the 13ths are -1.21% versus the other Fridays in those same months, with a paired p-value of 0.6888.
FARS is narrower but more severe. It only sees fatal crashes and fatalities. That is why the national read can tilt upward even though Colorado's all-crash counts stay ordinary.
National fatal crashes run +6.46% versus same-month Fridays with a paired p-value of 0.0198. Fatalities are up too, but only by +4.34% and with a weaker paired p-value of 0.0957.
