ИСТИНА

The transportation system of the Russian Federation is one of the most extensive in the world. The safety of the transportation is among of the main goals of the national Transport Strategy of the RF. The paper analyzes the main causes of road and railway accidents, their temporal variations and spatial distributions using official statistics data and information of the database created by the author. As the leading triggering factor of accidents, rank a “human factor” (traffic violations by drivers including speeding and driving under influence of alcohol and operational errors). A high degree of deterioration of tracks, rolling stocks, and other technical problems are also increasing. In some regions, as the most severe problem remains the poor state of roads and streets causing almost 40-50% of road accidents there. The modernization of the transport infrastructure is urgent. The contribution of natural factors as triggers of accidents was additionally assessed. The main purpose of the study is to trace regional differences in transport (un-)safety, areas most at risk were revealed using statistical and geographical analysis.