Based on data submitted to the National Transit Database (NTD) by rural transit providers across the country, rural transit continues to be the safest way to travel while on land. Full data from 2017 demonstrates only four fatalities occurred that year involving rural transit vehicles, which marks the lowest number of annual fatalities since 2009. At the same time, this year’s data continues the industry’s trend of safe operations over that period, with an average of eight fatalities per year involving rural transit vehicles between 2009 and 2017. The data include all incidents, regardless of cause or avoidability.

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