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Note that some attacks are represented here using approximate coordinates (e.g., the city or country in which the attack occurred).
Last Updated: 6/17/2026
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
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:
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.
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.
The vehicle had to be intended to be used as a ramming device, not a bomb.
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.
PROJECT MEMBERS
Cheyenne Hodgen is a PhD candidate in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California - Irvine. Her research focuses on spatiotemporal patterns of crime, the relationship between the built environment and crime, and public safety.
Genevieve Hodgen is an independent scholar. She completed her bachelor’s degree in history at Utrecht University and her graduate diploma in communication at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Chloe Ellis is a PhD student in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California - Irvine. Her research focuses on the relationship between communities and crime, with particular attention to neighborhood change and the built environment.
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