Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
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Table 1
Distribution of Transportation Fatalities by Mode: 1999

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Category Number Percent
Passenger car occupants 20,818 47.5
Light-truck occupants 11,243 25.6
Pedestrians struck by motor vehicles 4,906 11.2
Motorcyclists 2,472 5.6
Large-truck occupants 758 1.7
Pedalcyclists struck by motor vehicles 750 1.7
Recreational boating 734 1.7
General aviation 630 1.4
Trespassers on railroad property (excluding grade crossings) 478 1.1
Other and unknown motor vehicle occupants 457 1.0
Other nonoccupants struck by motor vehicles1 149 0.3
Heavy-rail transit (subway) 84 0.2
Waterborne transportation (nonvessel-related) 67 0.2
Bus occupants (school, intercity, and transit) 58 0.1
Grade crossings (not involving motor vehicles) 57 0.1
Waterborne transportation (vessel-related) 44 0.1
Railroad employees/contractors 43 0.1
Air taxi 38 0.09
Gas distribution pipelines 20 0.05
Light-rail transit 17 0.04
Air carriers 12 0.03
Commuter air 12 0.03
Transit buses (not related to accidents)2 11 0.03
Railroad3 9 0.02
Hazardous liquid pipelines 4 0.01
Gas transmission pipelines 2 <0.01
Total4 43,873 100.0
Redundant with above5    
 Grade crossings, with motor vehicles 345  
 Commuter rail (included in railroad) 95  
 Transit buses (accident-related) 91  
 Passengers on railroad trains 14  
 Demand responsive transit (accident-related) 1  

1 Includes all nonoccupant fatalities, except pedalcyclists and pedestrians.
2 Includes incidents such as suicides, heart attacks, and shootings.
3 Includes fatalities outside trains.
4 Unless otherwise specified, includes fatalities outside the vehicle.
5 Fatalities at grade crossings with motor vehicles are included under relevant motor vehicle modes. Commuter rail fatalities are counted under railroad. For transit bus and demand responsive transit accidents, occupant fatalities are counted under "bus" and nonoccupant fatalities are counted under "pedestrians," "pedalcyclists," or other motor vehicle categories.

SOURCES: Air: National Transportation Safety Board, available at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation, as of April 2000.
Highway: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts 1998 (DOT HS 808 983) (Washington, DC: October 1999), table 4, and personal communication, Oct. 4, 1999.
Railroad: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Railroad Safety Statistics, Annual Report 1999 (Washington, DC: August 2000), table 1-1.
Transit: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Safety Management Information Statistics
(Washington, DC: Annual issues).
Waterborne transportation: U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Investigations and Analysis, Compliance Analysis Division (G-MOA-2), personal communication, Apr. 13, 1999.
Recreational boating: U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety, Boating Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues).
Pipeline: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, available at http://ops.dot.gov, as of June 28, 2000.



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