A person can reduce his or her risk of an accident by over 90% by commuting on a public transport system compared to commuting by car, according to a study conducted by American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

The study, titled The Hidden Traffic Safety Solution: Public Transport, indicates that travelling by public transportation is ten times safer per mile than travelling by auto.

It has revealed that transit-oriented communities are five times safer as they have about a fifth of the per capita traffic casualty rate (fatalities and injuries) as compared to automobile-oriented communities.

"Public transit reduces a community’s crash risk by 50% even for those who do not use public transit."

In other words, public transit reduces a community’s crash risk by 50% even for those who do not use public transit.

Public transportation communities lead to compact development which in turn reduces auto miles travelled and produces safer speeds.

The study was prepared by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute for APTA.

APTA acting CEO and president Richard White said: “It is time we employ public transit as a traffic safety tool because it can dramatically reduce the crash risk for individuals as well as a community.

“While no mode of travel is risk free, the safety of public transit is striking when observing the number of fatalities that are a result of auto crashes.”

The recently released data by the US Department of Transportation reveals that there were 35,092 fatalities as a result of auto accidents in 2015, which is an increase of 7.2% from 2014, the largest since 1966.