Safety

There are three main statistics to which automobile safety can be compared:[24]
Deaths per
billion journeys
Bus: 4.3
Rail: 20
Van: 20
Car: 40
Foot: 40
Water: 90
Air: 117
Bicycle: 170
Motorcycle: 1640
Deaths per
billion hours
Bus: 11.1
Rail: 30
Air: 30.8
Water: 50
Van: 60
Car: 130
Foot: 220
Bicycle: 550
Motorcycle: 4840
Deaths per
billion kilometres
Air: 0.05
Bus: 0.4
Rail: 0.6
Van: 1.2
Water: 2.6
Car: 3.1
Bicycle: 44.6
Foot: 54.2
Motorcycle: 108.9
While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths,[25] their popularity undermines this statistic.
Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland[26] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York.[27] There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,[28] as well as insurance-backed IIHS tests.[29]