NTSB Updates ‘Most Wanted List’ of Safety Improvements
Image: NTSB
">Image: NTSB
">The National Transportation Safety Board's latest “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements contains no big surprises compared to the one issued last year. NTSB also announced it has transitioned to issuing the list every two years; thus this new one is the 2017-18 edition
There are two notable changes from the 2016 list. The first is that “Promote the Completion of Rail Safety Initiatives,” which last year chiefly referred to implementing Positive Train Control, does not appear again this year. But the 2017-18 list changed from “promote” to “increase” the NTSB's stance on the implementation of collision-avoidance technologies. Under that new heading, the board states that “Technologies such as collision warning and autonomous emergency braking in highway vehicles and positive train control in trains will result in fewer accidents, fewer injuries, and fewer lives lost.”
Added to this year's list is “Ensure the Safe Shipment of Hazardous Materials.” NTSB noted that increased volumes of hazardous materials, especially flammable liquids, are moving by rail and that expanded lithium battery use "poses a threat" to airplanes.
NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said at the National Press Club on Nov. 14 that the list's new two-year cycle will “help to focus our advocacy efforts (and your coverage) on sustained progress. We will take stock at the one-year mark, note what progress has been made, and decide what additional improvements are needed.”
Here is NTSB's 2017-18 Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements:
Eliminate DistractionsReduce Fatigue-Related AccidentsPrevent Loss of Control in Flight in General AviatioImprove Rail Transit Safety OversightEnd Alcohol and Other Drug Impairment in TransportationIncrease Implementation of Collision Avoidance TechnologiesExpand Recorder Use to Enhance SafetyRequire Medical FitnessStrengthen Occupant ProtectionEnsure the Safe Shipment of Hazardous MaterialsHart pointed out that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that highway fatalities rose by over 7% from 2014-2015 and ...Read the rest of this story
