The Federal Highway Administration, the state of Georgia and local government organizations are partnering with OSHA to sponsor a one-hour Safety Stand-Down at construction sites in Georgia in conjunction with National Highway Work Zone Awareness Week this week.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will host a multi-modal roundtable to discuss the dangers of distractions in transportation. The roundtable, “Disconnect from Deadly Distractions,” will be held on March 31, 2015, in Washington, DC.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the May 28, 2013 train/truck collision, 15-car derailment, and subsequent explosion in Rosedale, Md. was caused by the truck driver’s failure to ensure that the tracks were clear before traversing an un-gated highway-rail grade crossing. Contributing to the accident was the truck driver’s distraction due to a phone conversation on a hands-free device at the time of the crash.

The driver of a vehicle hired to escort a truck carrying an oversize load was talking on her mobile phone at the time the truck struck an interstate highway bridge and caused it to collapse, sending two cars and a camper-trailer into a river.

New findings from a National Safety Council public opinion poll indicate 73% of respondents think there should be more enforcement of texting laws, while only 22% said the current level of enforcement is fine.

 Cigarette smoking rates among high school students have dropped to the lowest levels since the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) began in 1991, according to the 2013 results released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.