Figure 5-3 Fatality Rates for Selected Modes: 1985–2010
| 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 | 1,248,980 | 1.86 | 6,689 | 388,779 | 1.72 | 977 | 123,504 | 0.79 | 4,564 | 9,086 | 50.23 | 956 | 28 | 3.38 | 8.34 | 1.65 |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 2.92 | 3.69 | 1.76 |
| 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 | 28 | 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 | 29 | 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 | 28 | 2.89 | 0.79 | 1.72 |
| 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 | 866 | 25 | 3.49 | 0.42 | 1.65 |
| 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 | 23 | 3.26 | 0.01 | 1.56 |
| 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 | 3.28 | 2.90 | 1.63 |
| 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 | 734 | 25 | 2.95 | 1.99 | 1.65 |
| 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 | 25 | 2.56 | 4.62 | 1.82 |
| 1997 | 22,199 | 1,528,399 | 1.45 | 10,249 | 824,896 | 1.24 | 723 | 191,477 | 0.38 | 2,116 | 10,081 | 20.99 | 631 | 26 | 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 | 624 | 26 | 2.45 | 0.01 | 1.63 |
| 1999 | 20,862 | 1,569,455 | 1.33 | 11,265 | 900,667 | 1.25 | 759 | 202,688 | 0.37 | 2,483 | 10,584 | 23.46 | 621 | 29 | 2.12 | 0.11 | 1.54 |
| 2000 | 20,699 | 1,583,127 | 1.31 | 11,526 | 940,219 | 1.23 | 754 | 205,520 | 0.37 | 2,897 | 10,469 | 27.67 | 596 | 28 | 2.14 | 0.80 | 1.50 |
| 2001 | 20,320 | 1,596,579 | 1.27 | 11,723 | 973,401 | 1.20 | 708 | 208,928 | 0.34 | 3,197 | 9,633 | 33.19 | 562 | 25 | 2.21 | 4.85 | 1.69 |
| 2002 | 20,569 | 1,613,749 | 1.27 | 12,274 | 1,010,759 | 1.21 | 689 | 214,603 | 0.32 | 3,270 | 9,552 | 34.23 | 581 | 26 | 2.27 | 0.00 | 1.59 |
| 2003 | 19,725 | 1,613,543 | 1.22 | 12,546 | 1,042,444 | 1.20 | 726 | 217,876 | 0.33 | 3,714 | 9,576 | 38.78 | 633 | 26 | 2.43 | 0.21 | 1.52 |
| 2004 | 19,192 | 1,629,955 | 1.18 | 12,674 | 1,097,099 | 1.16 | 766 | 220,811 | 0.35 | 4,028 | 10,122 | 39.79 | 559 | 25 | 2.25 | 0.13 | 1.44 |
| 2005 | 18,512 | 1,616,908 | 1.14 | 13,037 | 1,132,564 | 1.15 | 804 | 222,523 | 0.36 | 4,576 | 10,454 | 43.77 | 563 | 23 | 2.43 | 0.20 | 1.37 |
| 2006 | 17,925 | 1,616,328 | 1.11 | 12,761 | 1,156,697 | 1.10 | 805 | 222,513 | 0.36 | 4,837 | 12,049 | 40.14 | 706 | 24 | 2.95 | 0.46 | 1.32 |
| 2007 | 16,614 | 1,554,673 | 1.07 | 12,458 | 1,136,361 | 1.10 | 805 | 304,178 | 0.26 | 5,174 | 21,396 | 24.18 | 496 | 24 | 2.08 | 0.01 | 1.25 |
| 2008 | 14,646 | 1,524,331 | 0.96 | 10,816 | 1,105,882 | 0.98 | 682 | 310,680 | 0.22 | 5,312 | 20,811 | 25.52 | 494 | 23 | 2.17 | 0.03 | 1.18 |
| 2009 | 13,135 | 1,508,687 | 0.87 | 10,312 | 1,122,909 | 0.92 | 499 | 288,306 | 0.17 | 4,469 | 20,822 | 21.46 | 479 | 21 | 2.30 | 0.54 | 1.15 |
| 2010 | 12,435 | 1,507,262 | 0.83 | 9,752 | 1,140,397 | 0.86 | 529 | 286,585 | 0.18 | 4,502 | 18,462 | 24.39 | 454 | 22 | 2.09 | 0.02 | 1.09 |
NOTES: Not all graph scales are comparable. 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 onboard fatalities. Highway fatality rates for 1999 through 2008 are revised.
SOURCES: Passenger car occupants, Light-truck occupants, Large-truck occupants, and Motorcycle riders—U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Safety Facts (Annual Issues), available at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov as of January 2013. Large air carriers and General aviation—National Transportation Safety Board, Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data—U.S. Air Carrier Operations and U.S. General Aviation, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/ as of October 2011 as reported in U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics, tables 2-9 and 2-14, available at https://www.bts.gov/archive_publications as of January 2013.