Riding the bus is the safest way to travel on roads in the United States. There is an average of only one fatality per 200 million person trips on buses in the United States, compared to more than 18 fatalities per 200 million travelers in cars and more than 1,000 fatalities per 200 million motorcycle riders.
More statistics about traveling:
- Riding a motorcycle is by far the most dangerous of the common modes of travel. For every 100 million trips, there are more than 10,000 injuries among motorcycle riders and more than 500 fatalities. To put that in perspective, that's about a 1-in-100 chance of injury per motorcycle ride, compared to about a one-in-a-million chance of injury while riding the bus.
- There are more fatalities among walkers than among those riding in cars in the U.S. You're almost twice as likely to die walking along the road as you are riding in a car, although walkers experience far fewer injuries than car riders. Car users are four times more likely to be injured than walkers are.
- Out of all of the methods of travel in the world, flying is statistically the safest in terms of fewest passenger deaths per mile.
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Discussion Comments
It's a good question. I also commute by bicycle and feel extremely vulnerable in traffic. Fortunately, in my city, it's legal to ride on the sidewalk, except for downtown. I prefer this and figure I'm a lot less of a threat to pedestrians than cars are to me!
I would hazard a guess that the statistics for bicyclists are similar to those given for pedestrians, only rather higher, once you factor in road rage or other aggressive behavior on the part of the drivers you interact with and the inherent increased danger in bicycling rather than walking (you can more easily hurt yourself).
Are there similar statistics for injuries and fatalities for cyclists? I always feel so vulnerable on my bike that I use bikeways whenever possible, even if it adds 10 to 20 miles to a trip.
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