The 5 Most Dangerous Ways to Get Around

For many, boarding an airplane can be an immense source of anxiety. The fear of flying, or aviophobia, affects roughly 40% of the US population. It makes sense. Strapping into a 50,000-pound metal cylinder and soaring above the clouds is unnatural. Interestingly though, airplanes are one of the safest modes of transportation. What then are the most dangerous methods of transportation in America? First, it's important to define danger. For this article, we will look at two data points: total fatalities and passenger fatalities per 100 million miles traveled.

5. Airplanes

Airplanes are far and away the safest transportation method on the list. In 2021 there were 0 fatalities from commercial airline crashes in the U.S. and 0 deaths per 100 million passenger miles traveled. There were 373 airplane passenger fatalities in 2021, but all occurred onboard non-commercial airplanes. The likelihood of dying in a commercial airplane in the United States is deemed "too small to calculate" by the National Safety Council.

4. Trains

While not as safe as planes, passenger trains are one of the safest modes of transportation in the country. In 2021 there were 859 railroad deaths in the United States. Of those 859 deaths, 584 were the result of trespassing and only 6 were passengers. In 2021 there were 0.04 train passenger deaths per 100 million miles traveled making it slightly more dangerous than traveling by air.

3. Bicycles

Bicycles are controversial to include as number three on the list of most dangerous methods of transportation. In 2021, there were 1,230 bicyclist deaths, making them deadlier than trains. However, 853 of those fatalities were the result of collisions with motor vehicles and not bicycles themselves. While riding a bicycle is not without inherent danger, motor vehicles are a far greater danger to bicyclists than bicycles on their own. It can be difficult to calculate the number of fatalities per 100 million miles traveled for bicycles as minimal comprehensive data exists.

2. Passenger Vehicles

When looking strictly at the number of fatalities, passenger vehicles are far and away the most dangerous method of transportation. In 2021, cars killed 46,980 people. That's more than 22 times the number of fatalities caused by bicycles, trains, and planes combined. One scary fact about passenger vehicle fatalities is that between 2000 and 2009 a third of all highway fatalities involved individuals whose blood alcohol level was above the legal limit. Terrifyingly, recent research has also shown that operating a cell phone while driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving. In 2021, there were 0.57 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled in passenger vehicles – quite a bit more than any other method of transportation we've looked at so far. However, there is one method of transportation that's even more dangerous by the 100-million-mile metric.

1. Motorcycles

Motorcycles make up a mere 3% of all registered vehicles in the U.S. but account for 14.6% of all traffic fatalities. In 2021, motorcyclists died at an alarming rate of 31.27 fatalities for every 100 million miles traveled – more than 22 times the rate for cars. There were only 6,143 motorcyclist deaths in 2021, which is a lot less than the total number of passenger vehicle fatalities. However, when viewed in context, regularly traveling by motorcycle poses a far greater risk to the individual than traveling by car.

Cars and motorcycles are by and large the most dangerous methods of transportation in the U.S. Bicycles and trains on the other hand are relatively safe options but are not without risk. Airplanes, surprisingly, are the safest way to get around. So next time you're boarding a plane and the aviophobia starts to kick in, take a second to remember that the odds of something going wrong are slim to none, and the taxi ride to the airport was far more dangerous than flying will ever be.

References: Deaths by Transportation Mode | Airplane Crashes | Railroad Deaths and Injuries | Bicycle Deaths | Introduction | Motorcycles | Up to 40 percent of Americans fear flying. It's easily treated. | Transportation safety over time: Cars, planes, trains, walking, cycling