Fatalities by Travel Mode 1990 - 2006

Years:60,65,70,75,80,85,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,00,01,02,03,04,05,06

TOTAL fatalities U U U U U U 47,350 44,321 42,058 42,827 43,587 44,568 44,848 44,474 43,910 44,084 44,384 44,941 45,299 45,126 (R) 44,997 (R) 45,571 (P) 44,912
Air, total 1,286 1,290 1,456 1,473 1,382 1,595 866 1,005 989 811 1,057 964 1,093 724 671 681 764 1,166 616 698 636 603 766
U.S. air carriera 499 261 146 124 1 526 39 (n) 50 33 1 239 168 380 8 1 12 92 531 0 22 14 22 50
Commuter carrierb N N N 28 37 37 6 (n) 77 21 24 25 9 14 46 0 12 5 13 0 2 0 0 2
On-demand air taxic N N N 69 105 76 51 78 68 42 63 52 63 39 45 38 71 60 35 42 64 18 16
General aviationd 787 1,029 1,310 1,252 1,239 956 770 800 867 744 730 735 636 631 625 619 596 562 581 632 558 (R) 563 698
Highway, total 36,399 47,089 52,627 44,525 51,091 43,825 44,599 41,508 39,250 40,150 40,716 41,817 (o) 42065 42,013 41,501 41,717 41,945 42,196 43,005 42,884 42,836 (R) 43,510 (R) 42,642
Passenger car occupants N N N 25,929 27,449 23,212 24,092 22,385 21,387 21,566 21,997 22,423 22,505 22,199 21,194 20,862 20,699 20,320 20,569 19,725 19,192 (R) 18,512 (R) 17,800
Motorcyclists 790 1,650 2,280 3,189 5,144 4,564 3,244 2,806 2,395 2,449 2,320 2,227 2,161 2,116 2,294 2,483 2,897 3,197 3,270 3,714 4,028 (R) 4,576 (R) 4,810
Truck occupantse, light N N N 4,856 7,486 6,689 8,601 8,391 8,098 8,511 8,904 9,568 9,932 10,249 10,705 11,265 11,526 11,723 12,274 12,546 12,674 (R) 13,037 (R) 12,721
Truck occupantse, large N N N 961 1,262 977 705 661 585 605 670 648 621 723 742 759 754 708 689 726 766 (R) 804 (R) 805
Bus occupants N N N 53 46 57 32 31 28 18 18 33 21 18 38 59 22 34 45 41 42 58 27
Pedestrians 7,210 7,990 8,950 7,516 8,070 6,808 6,482 5,801 5,549 5,649 5,489 5,584 5,449 5,321 5,228 4,939 4,763 4,901 4,851 4,774 4,675 (R) 4,892 (R) 4,784
Pedalcyclists 490 690 760 1,003 965 890 859 843 723 816 802 833 765 814 760 754 693 732 665 629 727 (R) 786 (R) 773
Otherf 27,909 36,759 40,637 1,018 669 628 584 590 485 536 516 501 609 573 540 596 591 581 642 729 732 (R) 845 (R) 922
Railroad, totalg 2,345 2,533 2,225 1,492 1,417 1,036 1,297 1,194 1,170 1,279 1,226 1,146 1,039 1,063 1,008 932 937 971 951 868 (R) 895 (R) 887 (R) 911
Highway-rail grade crossingh 1,421 1,610 1,440 917 833 582 698 608 579 626 615 579 488 461 431 402 425 421 357 334 (R) 372 (R) 358 (R) 368
Railroad 924 923 785 575 584 454 599 586 591 653 611 567 551 602 577 530 512 550 594 534 (R) 523 (R) 529 (R) 543
Transit, totali N N N N N N 339 300 273 281 320 274 264 275 286 299 295 267 280 234 248 236 213
Highway-rail grade crossingj N N N N N N N N N N N 17 7 12 26 21 20 13 24 21 29 23 21
Transit N N N N N N N N N N N 257 257 263 260 278 275 254 256 213 219 213 192
Waterborne, totalk N N 2,016 2,039 1,847 1,377 1,051 1,010 1,032 1,026 992 1,016 906 989 1,033 928 888 828 (R) 857 (R) 807 (R) 759 777 797
Vessel-relatedl N N 178 243 206 131 85 30 97 105 77 53 55 48 69 58 53 53 (R) 66 (R) 54 (R) 48 45 48
Not related to vessel casualtiesl N N 420 330 281 130 101 56 119 121 131 134 142 120 149 136 134 94 41 50 35 35 39
Recreational boatingm 739 1,360 1,418 1,466 1,360 1,116 865 924 816 800 784 829 709 821 815 734 701 681 750 703 676 697 710
Pipeline, total N N 30 15 19 33 9 14 15 17 22 21 53 10 21 22 38 7 12 12 23 (R) 16 19
Hazardous liquid pipeline N N 4 7 4 5 3 0 5 0 1 3 5 0 2 4 1 0 1 0 5 (R) 2 0
Gas pipeline N N 26 8 15 28 6 14 10 17 21 18 48 10 19 18 37 7 11 12 18 (R) 14 19

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.

a Carriers operating under 14 CFR 121, all scheduled and nonscheduled service. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 121 include aircraft with 10 or more seats that formerly operated under 14 CFR 135. This change makes it difficult to compare pre-1997 data for 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135 with more recent data. In 2001, other than the persons aboard the aircrafts who were killed, fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist acts are excluded.
b All scheduled service operating under 14 CFR 135 (commuter air carriers). Before Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 135 applied to aircraft with 30 or fewer seats. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 135 includes only aircraft with fewer than 10 seats. This change makes it difficult to compare pre-1997 data for 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135 with more recent data.
c Nonscheduled service operating under 14 CFR 135 (on-demand air taxis).
d All operations other than those operating under 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135.
e Large trucks are defined as trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, including single-unit trucks and truck tractors. Light trucks are defined as trucks of 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or less, including pickups, vans, truck-based station wagons, and utility vehicles.
f Includes occupants of other vehicle types and other nonmotorists. For 1960-70, the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not break out fatality data to the same level of detail as in later years, so fatalities for those years also include occupants of passenger cars, trucks, and buses.
g Includes Amtrak. Fatalities include those resulting from train accidents, train incidents, and nontrain incidents. Railroad fatality data for 1970 and before is not comparable with post-1970 data due to a change in the reporting system.
h Fatalities occurring at highway-rail crossings resulting from freight and passenger rail operations including commuter rail. Highway-rail grade crossing fatalities, except train occupants, are also counted under highway.
i Fatalities include those resulting from all reportable incidents, not just from accidents.
j Includes motor bus, commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, demand response, van pool, and automated guideway. Fatalities occurring at highway-rail crossings resulting from operations of public transit rail modes including commuter rail. Data for fatalities at light rail grade crossings are: 1995 (7); 1996 (3); 1997 (3); 1998 (10); 1999 (7); 2000 (12); 2001 (1); 2002 (1); 2003 (4); 2004 (9).
k Vessel-related casualties include those involving damage to vessels such as collisions or groundings. Fatalities not related to vessel casualties include deaths from falling overboard or from accidents involving onboard equipment.
l 1992-97 data come from the Marine Safety Management Information System. Between 1998 and 2001 the U.S. Coast Guard phased in a new computer system to track safety data, the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement System. During that period data come from combining entries in the Marine Safety Management Information System with entries in the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement System. Data for 2002 and 2003 come from the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement System. Data for prior years come from other sources and may not be directly comparable.
m Data are based on information provided by the States, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. Territories to the Coast Guard Boating Accident Report Database (BARD) system. Research on the level of underreporting of fatal accidents in the BARD, based on discrepancies between the BARD and the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Management Information System (SARMIS), found that approximately 6 percent of recreational boating fatalities are not captured by the BARD system. Adjusting the number of recreational boating fatalities included in the BARD in 2001 by 6 percent increases the total to 722.
n U.S. air carrier figure does not include 12 persons killed aboard a commuter aircraft when it and a US Air airliner collided; commuter air carrier figure does not include 22 persons killed aboard a US Air airliner when it and a commuter aircraft collided.
o Includes 2 fatalities that have not been assigned to a specific vehicle type.
p Other than the persons aboard the aircraft who were killed, fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist acts are excluded.

NOTES

Numbers may not add to the total because some fatalities are counted in more than one mode. Total fatalities is derived from table 2-4 and earlier editions of this table. To avoid double counting, the following adjustments are made: most (not all) highway-rail grade-crossing fatalities have not been added because most (not all) such fatalities involve motor vehicles and, thus, are already included in highway fatalities; for transit, all commuter rail fatalities and motor-bus, trolley-bus, demand-responsive, and van-pool fatalities arising from accidents have been subtracted because they are counted as railroad, highway, or highway-rail grade-crossing fatalities. The reader cannot reproduce the total fatalities in this table by simply leaving out the number of highway-rail grade-crossing fatalitites in the sum and subtracting the above transit submodes, because in so doing, grade-crossing fatalities not involving motor vehicles would be left out (see table 2-35 on rail). An example of such a fatality is a bicyclist hit by a train at a grade crossing.

Caution must be exercised in comparing fatalities across modes because significantly different definitions are used. In particular, rail and transit fatalities include incident-related (as distinct from accident-related) fatalities, such as fatalities from falls in transit stations or railroad employee fatalities from a fire in a workshed. Equivalent fatalities for the air and highway modes (fatalities at airports not caused by moving aircraft or fatalities from accidents in automobile repair shops) are not counted toward the totals for these modes. Thus, fatalities not necessarily directly related to in service transportation are counted for the transit and rail modes, potentially overstating the risk for these modes.

The Federal Railroad Administration defines a grade crossing as a location where a public highway, road, street, or private roadway, including associated sidewalks and pathways, crosses one or more railroad tracks at grade. The Federal Transit Adminstration defines two types of grade crossings: (1) At grade, mixed, and cross traffic crossings, meaning railway right-of-way over which other traffic moving in the same direction or other cross directions may pass. This includes city street right-of-way; (2) At grade with cross traffic crossings, meaning railway right-of-way over which no other traffic may pass, except to cross at grade-level crossings. This can include median strip rights-of-way with grade level crossings at intersecting streets.

SOURCES

Air:

1960: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1967 (Washington, DC: December 1968).
1965-70: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1975, NTSB/ARC-77/1 (Washington, DC: January 1977).
1975: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1983, NTSB/ARC-87/01 (Washington, DC: February 1987), table 18.
1980: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1981, NTSB/ARC-85/01 (Washington, DC: February 1985), tables 2 and 16.
1985-2006: Ibid., Internet site www.ntsb.gov/aviation, table 5 as of Sept. 5, 2007.

Commuter:
1975-80: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1980, NTSB/ARC-83/01 (Washington, DC: January 1983), tables 26 and 40.
1985-2006: Ibid., Internet site www.ntsb.gov/aviation, table 8 as of Sept. 5, 2007.

On-demand air taxi:
1975-80: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations, Calendar Year 1981, NTSB/ARC-85/01 (Washington, DC: February 1985), table 61.
1985-2006: Ibid., Internet site www.ntsb.gov/aviation, table 9 as of Sept. 5, 2007.

General aviation:
1960-70: National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. General Aviation, Calendar Year 1970, NTSB/ARG-74/1 (Washington, DC: April 1974), table 117.
1975-80: Ibid., Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: General Aviation, Calendar Year 1985, NTSB/ARG-87/03 (Washington, DC: October 1987), table 21.
1985-2006: Ibid., Internet site www.ntsb.gov/aviation, table 10 as of Sept. 5, 2007.

Highway:

1960-65: Estimated by U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from data supplied by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, and individual state accident reports (adjusted to 30-day deaths). Fatalities data prior to 1975 have been adjusted to reflect the Fatality Analysis Reporting System's definition of a fatal crash as one that involves a motor vehicle on a trafficway that results in the death of a vehicle occupant or a nonmotorist within 30 days of the crash.
1970: Ibid., Traffic Safety Facts 2001, DOT HS 809 100 (Washington, DC: December 2002), table 4, Internet site www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSFAnn/TSF2001.pdf as of August 2003.
1975-2005: Ibid., Traffic Safety Facts 2005, DOT HS 810 631 (Washington, DC: 2006), table 4, Internet site http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSFAnn/TSF2006F.pdf as of Jan. 10, 2007.
2006: Ibid., Traffic Safety Facts 2006, Internet site http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/TSF2006FE.PDF as of Feb. 14, 2008.

Rail:

Highway-rail grade crossing:
1960-70: National Safety Council, Accident Facts, 1974 (Washington, DC: 1974).
1975-80: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Policy and Program Development, personal communication.
1985-90: Ibid., Rail-Highway Crossing Accident/Incident and Inventory Bulletin (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table S.
1991-99: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report 2002 (Washington, DC: March 2004), table 1-1.
2000-05: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics, Internet site http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/ as of Aug. 20, 2007.

Railroad:
1960-65: National Safety Council, Accident Facts, 1974 (Washington, DC: 1974).
1970-90: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Highway-Rail Crossing Accident/Incident and Inventory Bulletin (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table 7.
1991-99: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report 2002 (Washington, DC: March 2004), table 1-1.
2000-05: Ibid., Railroad Safety Statistics, Internet site http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/ as of Aug. 20, 2007.

Transit:

Highway-rail grade crossing:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Office of Program Management, personal communication, Aug. 28, 2007.

Transit:
1990-92: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Safety Management Information Statistics 1999 (Washington, DC: 2001), p. 41.
1993-2004: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis Annual Report, (Washington, DC: Annual issues), Internet site http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/data/SAMIS.asp as of Sept. 10, 2007.

Water:

Vessel- and nonvessel-related:
1970-91: U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Investigations and Analysis, Compliance Analysis Division, (G-MOA-2), personal communication, Apr. 13, 1999.
1992-2004: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Data Administration Division (G-MRI-1), personal communication, June 8, 2005.

Recreational boating:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety, Boating Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), Internet site http://www.uscgboating.org as of Sept. 5 2007.

Hazardous liquid and gas pipeline:

1970-85: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Accident and Incident Summary Statistics by Year, Internet site http://ops.dot.gov as of Nov. 18, 2003.
1990-2005: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Accident and Incident Summary Statistics by Year, Internet site http://ops.dot.gov as of Sept. 10, 2007.
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