Transportation Safety

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After a Florida driver was killed in a crash in 2016 while his Tesla was in “Autopilot” mode, regulators assured the public that Tesla’s autonomous driving system was safe. An investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that after a key component called Autosteer was added, crash rates in Tesla cars had dropped.

The fracking boom that’s made the U.S. the world’s top oil producer shows no signs of slowing down. But in Texas, the boom’s had what the state is calling an “unintended consequence," as oilfield highways have become overwhelmed with heavy truck traffic, there’s been an uptick in the number of deadly crashes. Officials are exploring solutions to this ongoing problem.

According to audio taken from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the cargo plane that crashed near Houston’s George Bush International Airport Feb. 23, “crew communications consistent with a loss control of the aircraft began approximately 18 seconds prior to the end of the recording.” That description from the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) Office of Research and Engineering Vehicle Recorder Division was part of a preliminary report into the crash of Atlas Air Flight 3591, which claimed the lives of the three pilots on board.

Motorcyclists and pedestrians were the focus of two recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports which used analyses from accident investigations to form recommendations to enhance safety for the two groups going forward. Motorcyclists—motorcycle riders and their passengers—have the highest risk of fatal injury among all motor vehicle users.

Flooding in a tank that held clams caused a fishing vessel to capsize and sink off the coast of Massachusetts, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Two crew members were trapped on board and died when the uninspected fishing vessel Misty Blue sank on December 4, 2017.

A dropped Thermos bottle lodged between the brake and accelerator pedals could not be ruled out as a possible cause for the fatal 2017 collision between two buses in Flushing, New York, according to a report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). On Sept. 18, 2017, at 6:16 a.m., a motorcoach operated by Dahlia Group Inc. collided with a New York City Transit Authority bus at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing. The motorcoach was traveling 60 mph — twice the posted speed limit.