The Safest Mode of Mobility and Transportation We risk our lives every day when we get into a car, fly on a plane, or even walk on the sidewalk. Transportation is a necessity, but each mode has its own price in terms of accident statistics. Which mode of transportation is the safest? Intuition suggests that planes crash rarely, but spectacularly. And what about trains? Buses? And what about the bicycle, which some consider "green" but vulnerable? Let's look at the numbers and physics. Planes: the king of safety in terms of risk per million hours The safest mode of transportation (in terms of passenger-kilometers) is aviation. In 2025, there were only 5 crashes with fatalities worldwide on commercial flights. If you fly every day, it will take you 8,000 years to be involved in a fatal accident. Why is it so safe? Strict control: every plane is inspected after each flight, pilots undergo medical tests every six months, systems are duplicated (two engines, two generators, two hydraulic circuits). Plus automation that prevents collisions with the ground. However, aviation is vulnerable to terrorism and weather. But in terms of pure risk, it is the champion. Trains: almost as safe as planes Railways are the second safest mode of transportation. In developed countries (Japan, Germany, Switzerland), the fatality rate on trains is 10 times lower than in cars. Reasons: trains run on dedicated tracks, head-on collisions are excluded, there are automatic blocking systems. A passenger train is very heavy, and in a collision with a car, the driver of the car will be injured, not the train passengers. The risk of derailment is low due to regular control. However, train crashes do occur (due to landslides or dispatcher errors), and then the number of casualties can be high. But in terms of safety per billion kilometers, trains are 20 times safer than cars. Buses: safer than cars, but worse than trains Long-distance buses (especially with professional drivers) are stati ... Read more