Transportation Safety

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Christopher A. Hart has been sworn as the 13th chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board today during a ceremony presided over by Chief Administrative Law Judge Alfonso Montano.

The most recent issue of CDC Vital Signs highlights a few of the safety risks faced by truck drivers. Truck drivers also face health risks that can affect their livelihood. Limited illness and injury data for long-haul truck drivers prompted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to conduct the National Survey of Long-Haul Truck Driver Health and Injury.

The Obama administration considered national standards to control explosive gas in oil trains last year but rejected the move, deciding instead to leave new rules to North Dakota, where much of the fuel originates, according to Reuters.

Motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the U.S. in 2012, accounting for 25% of deaths. Truck drivers accounted for 46% of these deaths.

Trains colliding with other trains, trucks and cars are high profile stories – especially within the last month or so. When trains collide with people, the results can be even deadlier, yet such accidents tend not to garner as much media coverage as the other kind.

A collision between an Amtrak train and a tractor-trailer yesterday in North Carolina injured dozens of passengers. There were no fatalities. A spokesman for the state’s Department of Transportation said the locomotive and baggage car of the train derailed during the accident, which occurred at a crossing.

As part of its ongoing investigation into last week’s accident at LaGuardia Airport where Delta Air Lines flight 1086 veered off the runway shortly after touching down, the NTSB today released its second investigative update.

Investigators over the weekend began interviewing crew members of the Delta Air Lines plane that slid off a runway at LaGuardia Airport last week, resulting in minor injuries to passengers and a major – if temporary – shutdown of the airport.

As we all become caught up in the business of life and perceived need to hurry, accomplish, arrive on time; and as we find ourselves powerless at times and disrespected at others, it is useful to stop and think, what might the Buddha do?

Mayors and team leaders from 85+ cities are preparing to attend a Safer People, Safer Streets Summit in March, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) “Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets” – an initiative intended to make bicycle and pedestrian safety a priority on the nation’s roads.