§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will provide information on the relative risk of accident injury for passenger travel in aircraft, rail and long distance coach and minibus services either by miles travelled, trips or on a population basis.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe following data are readily available:
Casualty rate per billion passenger kilometres: 1982 Number Rail Movement accidents1 60 Train accidents 7 Bus/Coach Motorways 10 Non built-up "A" roads 55 All roads1 193 Airline 0.03 1 Includes boarding and alighting accidents, which are not included in train accidents or motorway accidents and which occur comparatively rarely on non-built-up roads. The rate for airline passengers is for United Kingdom-registered aircraft operating passenger services. It varies considerably from year to year, the highest figure in recent years being 1.3 in 1985. For minibuses, data on passenger kilometres are not available and accident reports do not distinguish minibuses from motor caravans.
Further information is in "Road Accidents Great Britain 1982" (pages 15 and 16). A copy is in the Library.