Transportation Accidents

A rail accident is a sudden event or a specific chain of such events (occurring during train operation) which has harmful consequences (United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019). 

A road traffic accident involving at least one road vehicle in motion on a public road or private road to which the public has right of access, resulting in at least one injured or killed person. Approximately 1.19 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes, which are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years with 92% of the world's fatalities on the roads occurring in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have around 60% of the world's vehicles (adapted from UNECE, Eurostat, ITF, 2019 and WHO, 2023a).

An air transportation accident is defined as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, in which one of the following applies: a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure, and the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible (United Nations, European Union, the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019:119).

An inland waterway transportation accident is an unwanted or unintended sudden event or a specific chain of such events occurring in connection with inland water vessel operations, which have harmful consequences (United Nations, European Union and the International Transport Forum at the OECD, 2019).

A maritime accident is an event, or a sequence of events, that has resulted in any of the following occurring directly in connection with the normal operation of a marine vessel: the death of, or serious injury to, a person; the loss of a person from a ship; the loss, presumed loss or abandonment of a marine vessel; material damage to a marine vessel; the stranding or disabling of a marine vessel, or the involvement of a marine vessel in a collision; material damage to the marine infrastructures external to a vessel, that could seriously endanger the safety of the vessel or another vessel o