Study finds cargo transport by barge safer than highway or rail

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Maritime Lawyer

The National Waterways Foundation (NWF) has released a new study comparing selected societal, environmental, and the safety impacts of utilizing inland river barge transportation to highway and rail transportation. Titled "A Modal Comparison of Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public," the study was conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute's Center for Port and Waterways at Texas A&M University and was cost-shared with the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd).

Among its findings, the study determines that, after adjusting for the differences in quantity of cargo moved by each mode, for each member of the public injured in a barge accident, 125.2 are injured in rail accidents and 2171.5 are injured in truck accidents. For fatalities, the rates are 155 trucking fatalities and 22.7 rail fatalities for every barge related fatality.

An executive summary of the study can be found here on the National Waterways Foundation website.

Tags: , , ,
Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
http://www.jonesactmaritimelawblog.com/admin/trackback/79926
Comments (0) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end
Post A Comment / Question Use this form to add a comment to this entry.







Remember personal info?
Send To A Friend Use this form to send this entry to a friend via email.