U S Department of Transportation

G-7 Countries: Transportation Highlights U S Department of Transportation

Publisher Marketing: This report provides summary statistics on the physical characteristics, use, and performance of transportation networks in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Japan-the Group of Seven (G-7) countries. Data on safety, transportation-related energy use, and environmental impacts are also given. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) used many sources to assemble these data, but relied primarily on statistical compendiums published by international agencies to obtain data about Japan and European G-7 countries. Although basic socioeconomic data are readily available for these countries, transportation statistics are generally less accessible and, for a given country, are often the responsibility of several government agencies. Data-collection and processing procedures also vary by country, making it very difficult to compare figures. Some data may be compiled from administrative and regulatory documents, while other data are collected through surveys. Furthermore, methodologies, definitions, and terminologies may differ from country to country. Every effort was made in this report to use comparable data or identify differences. In some instances, countries did not report all data requested by the international agency preparing the compilation. In such cases, the tables indicate that the data are unavailable from the cited sources. In some cases, however, such data could be obtained from sources in the individual country. Most of the U. S. data were compiled by BTS from various sources. Source and accuracy profiles for much of the U. S. data can be found in the BTS report, National Transportation Statistics 1998 (NTS98, or in the forthcoming edition of this report for 1999. Users should note, however, that the data categories in some of the tables in this report differ from those in the NTS98. For other G-7 countries, readers should consult the source documents regarding methods of data collection and measures of statistical reliability. This report is one of several efforts by BTS to provide international transportation data and analysis to U. S. decisionmakers, as called for in the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.