Transportation safety in the United States

Overview of transportation safety

Transportation safety in the United States encompasses safety of transportation in the United States, including automobile crashes, airplane crashes, rail crashes, and other mass transit incidents, although the most fatalities are generated by road incidents annually killing 32,479 people in 2011 to over 42,000 people in 2022. The number of deaths per passenger mile on commercial airlines in the United States between 2000 and 2010 was about 0.2 deaths per 10 billion passenger miles. For driving, the rate was 150 per 10 billion vehicle miles: 750 times higher per mile than for flying in a commercial airplane. There is a considerable and growing gap between the United States and other comparable countries in terms of roadway deaths, with the United States having higher death rates. In 2014, two different U. S. government estimated that there were 33,736 or 32,744 motor vehicle traffic deaths in 2014. The National Safety Council (NSC), a nonprofit safety advocacy group, estimates U. S. motor vehicle deaths in 2016 were 40,200, a 14% increase from its 2014 estimate. After decades of improvements in road safety for pedestrians, the pedestrian death rate in the United States has skyrocketed since 2009 while most comparable countries have experienced declining pedestrian death rates. 2021 and 2022 experienced even more deaths, having 42,939 and 42,795 motor vehicle fatalities, respectively.

In the United States, most fatalities are generated by road vehicles. Note: Train data is without trespassing; 1990–2010 and 2012–2014 are two different series and may not be compared. Source NTSB
For 2017
For 2014
For 2012, 2013
For 1990, 2000, 2009 and 2010, BTS

Safety overall has steadily improved in the United States for many decades. Between 1920 and 2000, the rate of fatal automobile crashes per vehicle mile decreased by a factor of about 17. Except for a pause during the youth bulge of the 1960s (a time when many young, inexperienced drivers were on the road), progress in reducing fatal crashes has been steady. Safety for other types of U. S. passenger transportation has also improved substantially, but long term statistical data are not as readily available. While the fatality rate roughly leveled off around 2000–2005 at around 1.5 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled, it has resumed a downward trend and reached 1.27 in 2008. Source: OECD
2017 NTSB
2019 fatalities early estimates: NHTSA

Between 2008 and 2011, the economic recession, by a reduction in distance traveled, contributed to reducing fatalities. |}

New York City started a program, Vision Zero, that aims to lower vehicular fatalities by 50% between 2014 and 2025.

Source: OECD, 2001–2006 Source European Union Agency for Railways Source of data: US: Annual report FRA; Canada: Transport Safety Board; South Korea: KMMI; Australia: Annual report. In case of South Korea and Australia, the reference period is fiscal year, not calendar year. Passenger kilometres data for Canada and Japan taken from the oECD transport database

US trend is less favorable for the US than for Canada due to various factors such as vehicle, speed camera, transit, gasoline price and traveled distance.

In 2021, road deaths were more common per one million inhabitants in the United States than in all other OECD countries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously attributed most of these deaths to human error, but this has been criticized as misleading and inaccurate by the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, as well as other safety advocates.

Road to Zero is a Vision zero initiative which aims to reach zero fatalities by 2050.

One can also calculate auto fatalities per driver's license. From 1990 to 2009, this number has also been improving: from 1 death per 3,745 driver's licenses in 1990 to 1 per 6,200 driver's licenses in 2009. Crowded, traffic choked Northeastern cities including Washington, D. C., Baltimore, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Newark, Hartford, New Haven, Springfield and Worcester, Massachusetts, were most likely to have car accidents. The NHTSA through its Fatality Analysis Reporting System stated that auto fatalities continue to be the leading cause of death for young adults.

When Motor Vehicle Fatalities are compared to Fatalities occurring using mass transit in the U. S., the difference is enormous. According to the cited study, there are more than 30,000 deaths each year in the U. S. on public roads. For all types of mass transit there are less than 150 fatalities each year.

The number of deaths per passenger mile on commercial airlines in the United States between 2000 and 2010 was about 0.2 deaths per 10 billion passenger miles,
while for driving, the rate was 1.5 per 100 million vehicle miles for 2000, which is 150 deaths per 10 billion miles for comparison with the air travel rate. The per mile risk for vehicle transportation is therefore 750 times higher than the per mile risk for commercial air travel. The greatest risk in flying is in takeoff and landing, meaning that longer aircraft trips are safer per mile. Commuter planes used on shorter flights have higher risk than larger jet aircraft. Driving on U. S. Interstate highways, which are almost always controlled access divided highways, is safer than driving on most other roads and highways. Unlike the large U. S. air carriers and commuter airlines, which on average have less than 20 fatalities annually, each year general aviation fatalities number in the hundreds. Most general aviation accidents involve single engine, piston powered airplanes used in recreational aviation.