Table 5-1: Transportation Fatalities by Freight Transportation Mode
Growing demand for freight transportation heightens concerns about its safety, energy consumption, and environmental consequences. Most of our current knowledge is in safety, with some in energy consumption. More information is needed to understand and fix freight-related environmental issues.
About 5,200 people died in crashes involving large trucks in 2005, although only 803 of those were large-truck occupants. Fatalities involving large trucks are about 12 percent of all highway fatalities, while trucks account for about 8 percent of highway vehicle-miles traveled (vmt). Despite a doubling of large truck travel between 1980 and 2005, the number of fatalities involving large trucks declined 13 percent over this period.
Table in Excel format | Historical data
 |
1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2004 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total transportation fatalities (passenger and freight) | NA | 47,347 | 44,384 | (R) 45,005 | NA |
| Highway (passenger and freight) | 51,091 | 44,599 | 41,945 | (R) 42,836 | 44,443 |
| Large truck occupants1 | 1,262 | 705 | 754 | (R) 766 | 803 |
| Others killed in crashes involving large trucks | 4,709 | 4,567 | 4,528 | (R) 4,469 | 4,409 |
| Large truck occupants1 (percent) | 2.5 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Others killed in crashes involving large trucks (percent) | 9.2 | 10.2 | 10.8 | 10.4 | 9.9 |
| Railroad (passenger and freight) | 1,417 | 1,297 | 937 | (R) 896 | 892 |
| Highway-rail crossing2 | 833 | 698 | 425 | (R) 370 | 357 |
| Railroad2,3 | 584 | 599 | 512 | (R) 526 | 535 |
| Waterborne (passenger and freight) | 487 | 186 | 187 | 93 | U |
| Vessel-related4 | 206 | 85 | 53 | 36 | U |
| Freight ship | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | U |
| Tank ship | 4 | 5 | 0 | 3 | U |
| Tug / towboat | 14 | 13 | 2 | 1 | U |
| Offshore supply | NA | 2 | 3 | 0 | U |
| Fishing vessel | 60 | 47 | 30 | 14 | U |
| Mobile offshore drilling units | NA | 0 | 0 | 0 | U |
| Platform | NA | 1 | 0 | 0 | U |
| Freight barge | NA | 0 | 0 | 1 | U |
| Tank barge | NA | 0 | 0 | 0 | U |
| Miscellaneous | 56 | 11 | 6 | 6 | U |
| Not vessel-related4 | 281 | 101 | 134 | 57 | U |
| Pipeline | 19 | 9 | 38 | (R) 23 | 19 |
| Hazardous liquid pipeline | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Gas pipeline | 15 | 6 | 37 | (R) 18 | 17 |
Key: NA = not available; R = revised.
1Large trucks are defined as trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, including single-unit trucks and truck tractors.
2Includes Amtrak.
3Includes train accidents and other incidents. Most fatalities involve trespassers who are included under other incidents (467 in 2005).
4Vessel-related casualties include those involving damage to vessels such as collisions or groundings. Fatalities not related to vessel casualties include deaths from falling overboard or from accidents involving onboard equipment.
5Railroad fatalities are preliminary.
Note: Caution must be exercised in comparing fatalities across modes because significantly different definitions are used.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics 2006, available at http://www.bts.gov/ as of September 15, 2006.
To view Excel files, you can use the Microsoft Excel Viewer.
