Of the 38,958 people who died in transportation-related accidents in 2017, 95 percent of them were killed in highway crashes, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Passenger cars made up the majority of the deaths – 13,363 people – followed by light trucks and vans, pedestrians, motorcycles, medium and heavy trucks, pedalcycles, other and buses.
Fatalities decreased in all categories except for medium and heavy trucks. Deaths jumped from 725 in 2016 to 841 in 2017 compared.
“Highway crashes are completely preventable,” Robert Sumwalt, National Transportation Safety Board chairman, said. “Implementation of the 369 open NTSB highway safety recommendations, including the 22 recommendations related to speeding, have the potential to prevent crashes, save lives, and significantly reduce the carnage on our nation’s roads.”
Overall, transportation accidents decreased compared to 2016. Highway, aviation and marine deaths fell while rail and pipeline fatalities jumped.
Following highway crashes, rail had the highest fatal accident rate in 2017 with 761 deaths.
Recreational boating accidents killed more people than commercial fishing or cargo transport, accounting for 658 of the 694 marine deaths.
There were 350 aviation deaths. General aviation accounted for 94 percent of fatalities.
In 2017, there were 20 pipeline fatalities; most of them were gas related.