Transportation Safety
Thursday, January 8, 2015
With respect to transportation safety:
- Transportation safety has been improving in recent decades, averaging 36 fewer fatalities and 2,830 fewer injuries per day in 2011 than in 1990.
- Over 94 percent of transportation fatalities and more than 99 percent of transportation injuries involved highway motor vehicles in 2011. In 2012, on average, 92 people were killed and 6,471 injured every day in crashes involving motor vehicles.
- Recreational boating incidents had the second highest number of fatalities in 2012 with 651 people killed, followed by general aviation with 432 fatalities. Nearly 500 people died while crossing railroad tracks or trespassing on railroad property.
- For the second consecutive year, there were no U.S. commercial airline passenger fatalities in 2012.
- Human factors, such as operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or while distracted, are the most common contributing factors to transportation fatalities. Many people also fail to use safety equipment, such as seat belts or DOT-compliant motorcycle helmets.
TABLE 2 Fatalties and Injured Persons by Transportation Mode: 2011
| Fatalities | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 34,399 | 2,236,468 |
| Air | 489 | 362 |
| Highway | 32,479 | 2,217,000 |
| Railroad | 552 | 7,593 |
| Transit | 49 | 7,626 |
| Waterborne | 816 | 3,831 |
| Pipeline | 14 | 56 |
SOURCES: Air—National Transportation Safety Board. Highway—National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. RailroadFederal Railroad Administration. Transit—Federal Transit Administration and personal communication. Waterborne—U.S. Coast Guard. Recreational boatingU.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety. Pipeline—Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration as cited in U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics, table 2-2 and 2-4, available at http://www.bts.gov/ as of October 2014.