MOTOR VEHICLE-RELATED HIGHWAY FATALITIES
MOTOR VEHICLE-RELATED HIGHWAY FATALITIES
Fatalities of Highway Vehicle Occupants, Pedestrians, and Bicyclists (annual data)
Highway crashes caused 94 percent of all transportation-related fatalities in 2001, and were the leading cause of death of people ages 4 through 23 (DOT Performance Plan FY 2003 and Performance Report FY 2001).
NOTES: Large trucks - trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, including single unit trucks and truck tractors.
Light trucks - trucks of 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or less, including pickups, vans, truck-based station wagons, and utility vehicles. The number of light trucks has increased greatly since 1990, affecting light truck occupant fatality numbers.
See U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics 2000, pp. 429-435, for detailed discussion of modal fatality data.
| Fatalities by Type | 2000 | 2001* |
|---|---|---|
| Highway total | 41,821 | 41,730 |
| Highway total percent change from previous year | 0.25 | -0.22 |
| Passenger car occupants | 20,492 | 20,269 |
| Passenger car occupants percent change from previous year | -1.77 | -1.09 |
| Light-truck occupants | 11,418 | 11,564 |
| Light-truck occupants percent change from previous year | 1.56 | 1.28 |
| Pedestrians | 4,739 | 4,698 |
| Pedestrians percent change from previous year | -4.05 | -0.87 |
| Motorcyclists | 2,862 | 3,067 |
| Motorcyclists percent change from previous year | 15.26 | 7.16 |
| Large-truck occupants | 741 | 696 |
| Large-truck occupants percent change from previous year | -2.37 | -6.07 |
| Bicyclists | 690 | 701 |
| Bicyclists percent change from previous year | -8.49 | 1.59 |
| Other highway** | 879 | 735 |
| Other highway** percent change from previous year | 47.48 | -16.38 |
** Other highway includes buses, construction equipment, farm equipment, etc, and other unknown vehicle types.
SOURCES: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2000 Traffic Safety Facts, available at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/ncsa/tsf2000/2000ovrfacts.pdf. 2001 numbers from NHTSA, 2001 Early Assessment, available at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/Rpts/2002/2001EARelease.pdf