Transportation Safety


DOT Issues NPRM on Trailer and Semitrailer Underride Protection

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that focuses on upgrading the federal motor vehicle safety standards that address underride protection against vehicle crashes into the rear of trailers and semitrailers.

A fire severely damaged the B777 after it crashed on July 6, 2013, while on approach to San Francisco International Airport. (Mike Brake / Shutterstock.com photo)

NTSB Highlighting Importance of Procedural Compliance

It is an emerging problem identified from the board's accident investigations of the Asiana crash in San Francisco and the UPS crash in Birmingham, Ala., board member Earl F. Weener reports.

Foxx Praises Transportation Bill's Signing

The new law authorizes DOT to prohibit rental car companies from knowingly renting vehicles that are subject to safety recalls and raised maximum fines against non-compliant auto manufactures to $105 million, the secretary noted.

Audit of FTA Oversight Announced

The audit's objective is to assess FTA's actions to assume and relinquish direct safety oversight of a transit agency.

NSC Calls on Drivers to Learn Winter Driving Basics

The MyCarDoesWhat campaign offers tips for driving in wintry conditions.

Australia More Confident of Finding MH370

A report issued Dec. 3 says new analysis indicates the crashed aircraft is probably in the southern end of the current search area.

FMCSA Issues Final Rule to Stop Driver Coercion

The rule is intended to protect truck and bus drivers from being forced by their employers or others to violate hours of service of safety regulations.

Corvallis, Ore.-based VDOS Global uses aerial robotics and remote sensing to provide oil and gas inspections, environmental research, aerial surveying and other services using for its clients around the world. (VDOS image)

FAA Releases Drone Safety Checklist

With retailers busily advertising drones as a hot gift idea, the agency is urging consumers to make it a stocking stuffer this year.



Increasing Safeguards for Crude Oil Trains

The July 2013 derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, of a crude oil train triggered many federal actions in Canada and the United States as crude oil shipments by rail skyrocketed.

Traffic Deaths Up Significantly This Year

NHTSA will hold a series of cross-cutting regional meetings across the country early next year to gather ideas, engage new partners, and generate additional approaches to combat human behavioral issues that contribute to road deaths.

Cargo Vessel's Grounding Attributed to Drunken Chief Officer

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch found that he "lost situational awareness due to his consumption of alcohol." The cargo vessel Lysblink Seaways ran aground at full speed in West Scotland on Feb. 18, 2015, resulting in a fuel spill and eventual scrapping of the vessel.

Key Drone Safety Tests This Week

The trials in North Carolina will involve flying conventional aircraft close to drones to test how the pilots can safely respond.

The National Safety Council estimates more than 50,000 people will be seriously injured in Thanksgiving 2015 holiday period traffic accidents.

NSC Estimates 433 Traffic Deaths During Thanksgiving Weekend

The council said this four-day period falls near the end of what it estimates has been a particularly deadly year on the roads: Preliminary NSC estimates are that traffic deaths increased 10 percent through the first nine months of 2015 from the same period in 2014.

Four North Central Texas College softball players died in the September 2014 accident where a tractor-trailer crossed an I-35 median and struck their bus near Davis, Okla.

NTSB Blames Crash on Trucker's Use of Synthetic Cannabinoid

The truck crossed a median on I-35 near Davis, Okla., on Sept. 26, 2014, and struck a medium-sized passenger bus carrying members of the North Central Texas College softball team, four of whom died in the wreck. The board's report says this crash demonstrates the need for seat belt use laws with primary enforcement for all vehicles.

World Marks 20th World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

This year, the day was marked as the 20/10 World Day of Remembrance -- 20 years since road victim organizations under the umbrella of the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims observed it and 10 years since the UN adoption.

Minnesota Truck Driver Deemed an Imminent Hazard to Public Safety

The FMCSA declared John Ray Carpenter to be an imminent hazard and has ordered him not to operate any commercial vehicle.

UN Meeting Allows for Satellite Tracking of Planes

UN Meeting Allows for Satellite Tracking of Planes

ADS-B signals will be extending beyond line-of-sight to facilitate reporting the position of aircraft equipped with the signal anywhere in the world, including oceanic, polar and other remote areas, according to the UN.

OSHA Establishes Final Rule for Retaliation Complaints in Transportation Industry

The final rule establishes procedures and timeframes for handling retaliation complaints under the National Transit Systems Security Act and the Federal Railroad Safety Act.

FAA Acts on Austin Control Tower After Flood Damage

The FAA has transferred responsibility for low-altitude airspace to the San Antonio radar approach control.

New Orleans Canal Street Ferry Gets TIGER Grant

"In this round of TIGER, we selected projects that focus on where the country's transportation infrastructure needs to be in the future: ever safer, ever more innovative, and ever more targeted to open the floodgates of opportunity across America," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

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