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Highway Safety

Transit Safety

National data on public transit safety are reported in the National Transit Database. This data includes the total number of incidents, fatalities, and injuries reported by transit operators. The figures here are for directly operated service only; reporting of safety data for purchased transportation services has only recently begun. Comparable data on transit safety are available since the 1990 reporting year.

Reportable transit safety incidents include all incidents involving injuries, deaths, fire, or property damage over $1,000. Property damage includes both damage to transit vehicles and facilities and other vehicles that may be involved. Injuries and fatalities include those suffered by both riders and non-riders. Injuries and fatalities to riders may be sustained while boarding, alighting, or waiting for transit vehicles, as well as traveling inside transit vehicles. Non-rider injuries and fatalities include those sustained by pedestrians, trespassers, bicyclists, and the occupants of other motorized vehicles involved in a collision with a transit vehicle.

Exhibit 5-9 shows annual transit incidents, injuries, and fatalities for the period 1990 to 1997, expressed both as annual totals and as rates per 100 million passenger miles. The data show that safety incidents involving transit have declined considerably since 1990, falling from 251 per 100 million PMT to 165. Injuries sustained in transit incidents, however, have remained relatively stable over the same time period, at roughly 150 per 100 million PMT. Fatality rates have also declined considerably over the 7-year period, from .89 per 100 million PMT to .73.

Exhibit 5-9

Annual Transit-Related Incidents, Injuries, and Fatalities, 1990-1997 Directly Operated Service

Source: National Transit Database.

Exhibit 5-10 shows incident, injury, and fatality rates for the five largest transit modes. Incident and injury rates have consistently been highest for demand response services. Commuter rail service has the lowest injury and incident rates, but has one of the highest fatality rates, reflecting the higher speeds at which these vehicles operate. Buses, on the other hand, have consistently had above-average injury and incident rates coupled with below-average fatality rates. Fatality rates for light rail have shown considerable year-to-year variation over the period, while heavy rail fatality rates have been consistently decreasing.

Exhibit 5-10. Transit Incidents, Injuries, and Fatalities
Annual Rates Per 100 Million Passenger Miles by Mode, 1990-1997
Directly Operated Service