About The Data

This dataset includes 419 reported and confirmed vehicle ramming attacks (VRAs) that occurred worldwide between 2000 and 2025.

Methodology

Multiple sources were drawn on to compile this list of VRAs:

• The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism’s (START’s) Global Terrorism Database (GTD).
• RAND’s Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents (WTI).
• Wikipedia’s List of Vehicle Ramming Attacks
• Wikipedia’s List of Rampage Killers in China
• Wikipedia’s List of Vehicle Ramming Incidents During George Floyd Protests
• The Palestine Chronology
• Perry, Hasisi, and Perry 2018
• Miller and Hayward 2019
• Williams, Corner, and Taylor 2022
• Counter Extremism Project 2025
• Nowacki, Krysiuk, and Szafranek 2025
• Rodde and Olmstead 2025
• Additional Media Articles (Lappin and Lefkovits, 2011; Johnson, 2016; Ferreras and Vomiero, 2017; Strickland, 2017; TSA, 2017; Allam, 2020; Mack, 2020; Samar, 2024; AP, 2025) 
• Additional Media Searches

Inclusion Criteria

The criteria for an attack’s inclusion in this database are:

1. The vehicle had to be used as a weapon on a primary target of pedestrians or bicyclists (including civilians, police officers, and military forces). Attacks where vehicles were rammed into buildings or into other vehicles are excluded. 
2. The vehicle had to be one of the primary weapons, intended to hit pedestrians. Other weapons (i.e., knives or guns) could be used during the attack. 
3. The vehicle had to be intended to be used as a ramming device, not a bomb. 
4. Civilian injuries or casualties were intended and not part of a chase, evasion, or accident. 

Limitations

While every effort has been made to create as comprehensive a list as possible, it is important to recognize that this list does not contain every VRA that has occurred. It is limited to VRAs that we have identified and verified using online news sources. There are likely cases that have been missed, and this missingness is likely more prevalent in countries that have limited online news sources and limited English news sources. Earlier years are also more likely to have missing attacks as news reports were less likely to be digitized.