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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Injured Persons by Transportation Mode

Embedded Dataset Excel:

Dataset Excel:

table_02_02_092524.xlsx (91.6 KB)

Notes:

To reduce double counting, the following adjustments are made to Total Injuries: For Railroad, injuries involving motor vehicles at public highway-rail grade crossings are excluded because such injuries are assumed to be included in Highway injuries. For Transit, non-rail modes, including aerial tramway, motor bus, bus rapid transit, commuter bus, demand response, demand taxi, ferryboat, jitney, publico, trolleybus, and vanpool injuries are excluded because they are counted as Water and Highway injuries.

Highway numbers including totals are estimates rather than actual counts. The estimates are calculated from data obtained from a nationally representative sample of crashes. NHTSA redesigned the nationally representative sample of police-reported traffic crashes, which estimates the number of police-reported injury and property-damage-only crashes in the US. The new system, CRSS, replaced the NASS GES in 2016 and has a different sample design. Thus, the 2016 persons injured estimates are not comparable to 2015 and earlier year estimates.

Water injury data for 2001 and before is not comparable with later year due to a change in the reporting system.

Current version of this table is not comparable with the versions before 2019 because of the categories changing for some modes.

Description:

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

a Serious injuries only. See Glossary for definitions

b All service operating under 14 CFR 121 (Scheduled air carriers). Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 121 includes only aircraft with 10 or more seats 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 years' data.

c 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 March 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 years' data.

d Nonscheduled service operating under 14 CFR 135 (On-demand air taxis).

e All operations other than those operating under 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135.

f 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.

g Includes occupants of other unknown vehicle types and other nonmotorists.

h Railroad injury data for 1975 and before is not comparable with later years due to a change in the reporting system.

i Other incidents are events other than Train Accidents or Crossing Incidents that cause physical harm to persons.

j Includes transit employee, contract worker, passenger, revenue facility occupant, and other injuries for all modes reported in the National Transit Database.

k Passenger vessel includes passenger ship, research vessel, and school ships where vessels were involved in a marine casualty as of May 24, 2019.

l Freight vessel includes barge, bulk carrier, general dry cargo ship, refrigerated, Ro-Ro, tanker, and towing vessels where vessels were involved in a marine casualty as of May 24, 2019.

m Industrial/other includes fishing vessels, miscellaneous vessels, Mobile Offshore Drill Units, Liftboats, Offshore Supply Vessels and Floating Production and Storage Systems  where vessels were involved in a marine casualty as of May 24, 2019.

n Recreational includes airboats, canoes, kayaks, motorboats, pontoon, rowboats, and sailboats. 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, which is subject to some under- or delayed reporting.

o Includes passenger train collisions with vehicles and people at all public and private highway-rail grade crossings.

p Highway-rail grade crossing injuries include freight train collisions with vehicles and people at all public and private highway-rail grade crossings.

q Vessel-related injuries include those involving damage to vessels, such as collisions or groundings.  Injuries not related to vessel casualties include those from falls overboard or from accidents involving onboard equipment. 

r 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. 

s NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) redesigned the nationally representative sample of police-reported traffic crashes, which estimates the number of police-reported injury and property–damage-only crashes in the US. The new system, Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS), replaced the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Estimates System (GES) in 2016 and has a different sample design. Thus, 2016 and later year estimates are not comparable to 2015 and earlier year estimates. People injured estimates have been solely estimated from CRSS/GES for injuries suffered in fatal as well as non-fatal crashes. Starting with 2018 reporting, NHTSA is implementing a change in the way people injured estimates are reported. Injured estimates will be based on people injured in fatal crashes from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and estimated people injured in non-fatal crashes from CRSS/GES. 

Source:

Air:

1970-94: National Transportation Safety Board,  Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: General Aviation  (Washington, DC: Annual issues).

1995-2022: National Transportation Safety Board, Analysis and Data Division, personal communications, Nov. 9, 2009, Sept. 29, 2011, Jan. 23, 2013, Aug. 2013,  Apr. 2015, Oct. 2015, Sept. 2016, Apr. 4, 2018, May 21, 2019, Nov. 25, 2019, Sept. 15, 2020, Oct. 22, 2021, Nov. 28, 2022, and Jan. 3, 2024.

Highway:

U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts Annual Report Tables, table 4, available at https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/tsftables/tsfar.htm as of Sep. 24, 2024.

Rail:

1960-70: National Safety Council,  Accident Facts, 1974 (Washington, DC: 1974).

1975-2023: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Safety Analysis, tables 1.12, 1.13, and 5.14, available at http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/ as of Sep. 24, 2024.

Transit:

1990-2001: U.S. Department of Transportation, Volpe Center, Transit Safety and Security Statistics, Safety & Security Time Series Data, as of Mar. 2015.

2002-22: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transportation Database, Safety & Security Time Series Data available athttps://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd/ntd-data as of Jan. 3, 2024.

Water:

Passenger, Freight, Industrial/Other:

2002-15: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Data Administration Division, Marine Casualty and Pollution Data for Researchers (April 6, 2015), available at https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Prevention-Policy-CG-5P/Inspections-Compliance-CG-5PC-/Office-of-Investigations-Casualty-Analysis/Marine-Casualty-and-Pollution-Data-for-Researchers-/ as of Jul. 11, 2017.

2016-22: U.S Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Investigations and Analysis, Compliance Analysis Division, personal communication, May 24, 2019, Sept. 9, 2020, Aug 6, 2021, Aug. 10, 2022, and Oct. 25, 2023.

Recreational boating:

1960-2002: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety, Boating Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table 31, available at http://www.uscgboating.org as of June 2014.

2003-23: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics (annual issues), available at www.uscgboating.org as of Sep. 24, 2024.

Pipeline:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, Accident and Incident Summary Statistics by Year, available at https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-20-year-trends as of Sep. 24, 2024.

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