BTS | Table 2-31: Transit Safety and Property Damage Data

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Table 2-31: Transit Safety and Property Damage Data

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	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002^e	2003	2004	2005
Fatalities^a	339	300	273	281	320	274	264	275	286	299	295	267	280	234	248	236
Injuries^a	54,556	52,125	55,089	52,668	58,193	57,196	55,288	56,132	55,990	55,325	56,697	53,945	19,260	18,235	18,982	18,131
Accidents^b	58,002	46,467	36,380	30,559	29,972	25,683	25,166	24,924	23,937	23,310	24,261	23,891	13,968	7,793	(R) 7,842	8,151
Incidents^a,b (includes accidents)	90,163	83,139	73,531	64,986	70,693	62,471	59,392	61,561	60,094	58,703	59,898	58,149	30,331	19,797	20,939	21,016
Vehicle-miles (millions)	2,490	2,478	2,510	2,535	2,581	2,620	2,605	2,702	2,833	2,927	3,002	3,090	3,084	3,071	3,139	3,098
Rates per 100 million vehicle-miles^c
Fatalities (all reportable incidents)	13.6	12.1	10.9	11.1	12.4	10.5	10.1	10.2	10.1	10.2	9.8	8.6	9.1	7.6	7.9	7.6
Injuries (all reportable incidents)	2,191	2,103	2,195	2,077	2,254	2,183	2,122	2,078	1,976	1,890	1,889	1,746	624	594	605	585
Accidents	2,329	1,875	1,450	1,205	1,161	980	966	922	845	796	808	773	453	254	250	263
Property damage^d (current $ millions)	38.0	37.5	37.5	44.9	38.4	46.3	57.6	55.5	61.5	55.3	58.9	73.1	32.2	59.2	43.4	71.7

KEY: R = revised.

^a Totals do not include data for cable car, inclined plane, jitney, and ferry boat. These data appear in the footnotes for table 2-33.

^b Accidents include collisions with other vehicles, objects, and people (except suicides), and derailments/buses going off the road. Incidents include accidents plus personal casualties (inside vehicles, inside stations, and boarding and alighting vehicle) and fires.

^c Fatality and injury rates are based on total incidents including accidents and were calculated by dividing the number of fatalities, injuries, and incidents in this table by the number of vehicle miles.

^dTotal does not include property damage for cable car, inclined plane, jitney, and ferry boat, which were: 1990-$335,000; 1991-$410,000; 1992-$288,000; 1993-$221,000; 1994-$322,000; 1995-$3,263,000; 1996-$157,000; 1997-$67,000; 1998-$24,000; 1999-$104,000; 2000-$77,000; 2001-$1,605,000; 2002-$254,000; 2003-$15,348,000; 2004-$604,000. The large increase in excluded property damage reported in 2003 is a result of the Staten Island Ferry incident on Oct. 16, 2003 which resulted in $15,000,000 of property damage.

^eThe drop in the number of incidents, accidents, injuries, and property damage is due largely to a change in definitions by the Federal Transit Administration, particularly the definition of injuries. Only injuries requiring immediate medical treatment away from the scene now qualify as reportable. Previously, any injury was reportable. Commuter rail data are now derived from the Federal Railroad Administration's Rail Accident Incident Reporting System (RAIRS). In addition, in 2002 the threshold for reporting property damage was changed from $1,000 in transit property damage to $7,500 in total property damage.

NOTES

Data are provided only for transit systems that furnished safety data for inclusion in the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis, annual reports.

Transit vehicle-miles in this table differ from those reported in Chapter 1. The American Public Transit Association, which is the source for the vehicle-miles table in Chapter 1, includes all transit systems, while Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis Annual Report covers only directly operated urban transit systems.

Prior to the 2000 edition, Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis Report was entitled Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS) annual report.

Analysts for the FTA believe the change in reporting requirements in 2002 may have resulted in unreliable data in that year, particularly for injuries, accidents, and incidents. The reliability of reporting is believed to be much better in 2003 and is expected to improve in the future.

SOURCE

1990 - 2005: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Transit Safety and Security Statistics and Analysis Report (Cambridge, MA: 2006), Internet site http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/Data/Samis.asp as of March 7, 2006 and personal communications, Sep. 9, 2004, Apr. 22, 2005, Apr. 24, 2006, and June 8, 2007.