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2-4
Fatality Rates for Selected Modes: 1985-2005

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Year Passenger car occupants Light-truck occupants Large-truck occupants Motorcycle riders General aviation Air carriers (actual and smoothed fatality rates)
Fatalities VMT (millions) Fatality Rate Per 100 million VMT Fatalities VMT (millions) Fatality Rate per 100 million VMT Fatalities VMT (millions) Fatality rate Per 100 million VMT Fatalities VMT (millions) Fatality Rate Per 100 million VMT Fatalities Hours flown (millions) Fatality rate per 100,000 hours flown Actual fatality rate per 100,000 aircraft departures Smoothed fatality rate per 100,000 aircraft departures
1985 23,212 1,248,981 1.86 6,689 388,779 1.72 977 123,504 0.79 4,564 9,086 50.23 956 28.3 3.38 8.34 1.64
1986 24,944 1,277,550 1.95 7,317 416,532 1.76 926 126,675 0.73 4,566 9,397 48.59 967 27.1 3.57 0.11 1.56
1987 25,132 1,328,460 1.89 8,058 444,392 1.81 852 133,517 0.64 4,036 9,506 42.46 838 27.0 3.10 3.05 1.64
1988 25,808 1,384,047 1.86 8,306 488,431 1.70 911 137,985 0.66 3,662 10,024 36.53 800 27.4 2.92 3.69 1.75
1989 25,063 1,415,213 1.77 8,551 522,483 1.64 858 142,749 0.60 3,141 10,371 30.29 768 27.9 2.75 3.64 1.86
1990 24,092 1,427,178 1.69 8,601 555,659 1.55 705 146,242 0.48 3,244 9,557 33.94 770 28.5 2.70 0.48 1.78
1991 22,385 1,411,655 1.59 8,391 595,924 1.41 661 149,543 0.44 2,806 9,178 30.57 800 27.7 2.89 0.79 1.73
1992 21,387 1,436,035 1.49 8,098 642,397 1.26 585 153,384 0.38 2,395 9,557 25.06 867 24.8 3.50 0.42 1.66
1993 21,566 1,445,106 1.49 8,511 675,353 1.26 605 159,888 0.38 2,449 9,906 24.72 744 22.8 3.26 0.01 1.57
1994 21,997 1,459,208 1.51 8,904 711,515 1.25 670 170,216 0.39 2,320 10,240 22.66 730 22.2 3.28 2.90 1.64
1995 22,423 1,478,352 1.52 9,568 749,971 1.28 648 178,156 0.36 2,227 9,797 22.73 735 24.9 2.95 1.99 1.66
1996 22,505 1,499,139 1.50 9,932 787,255 1.26 621 182,971 0.34 2,161 9,920 21.78 636 24.9 2.55 4.62 1.82
1997 21,199 1,528,399 1.39 10,249 824,896 1.24 723 191,477 0.38 2,116 10,081 20.99 631 25.6 2.47 0.08 1.72
1998 21,194 1,555,901 1.36 10,705 861,951 1.24 742 196,380 0.38 2,294 10,283 22.31 625 25.5 2.45 0.01 1.63
1999 20,862 1,566,808 1.33 11,265 903,314 1.25 759 202,688 0.37 2,483 10,584 23.46 619 29.2 2.12 0.11 1.55
2000 20,699 1,580,735 1.31 11,526 942,611 1.22 754 205,520 0.37 2,897 10,469 27.67 596 27.8 2.14 0.80 1.51
2001 20,320 1,595,443 1.27 11,723 976,096 1.20 708 209,032 0.34 3,197 9,639 33.17 562 25.4 2.21 4.85 1.69
2002 20,569 1,611,860 1.28 12,274 1,012,648 1.21 689 214,603 0.32 3,270 9,552 34.23 581 25.5 2.28 0.00 1.60
2003 19,725 1,612,237 1.22 12,546 1,043,936 1.20 726 217,917 0.33 3,714 9,577 38.78 633 26.0 2.44 0.21 1.52
2004 19,192 1,628,255 1.18 12,674 1,098,799 1.15 766 220,811 0.35 4,028 10,122 39.79 559 24.9 2.25 0.13 1.44
2005 18,440 1,614,807 1.14 12,975 1,134,748 1.14 803 222,836 0.36 4,553 10,770 42.27 563 23.2 2.43 0.13 1.37

Notes: Air carrier data were smoothed using an exponential smoothing model, with a weight of 0.945 to reduce the year-to-year fluctuations. Air carrier fatalities resulting from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks include only those persons onboard aircraft.

Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Satety Facts 2005 tables 7-10, as of July 2006. Air carriers and general aviation-USDOT, BTS, National Transportation Statistics, tables 2-9 and 2-14, available at http://www.bts.gov as of October 2007.
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