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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) releases a list each year of safety improvements that the agency would like to see.  For the past 20 years, the NTSB has been issuing recommendations on how technology can be used to reduce motor vehicle crashes and reduce the risk of serious injuries.   The Board also has suggestions for drivers to avoid causing collisions by eliminating some of their highest-risk behaviors while behind the wheel. 

This year's NTSB list is heavily focused on tech innovations, but no amount of technology can ever substitute for safe driving.  Motorists need to use good judgment, exercise care and follow all safety rules. Additionally, drivers should not be too dependent upon technological innovations in their vehicles to try to reduce the chances of an accident happening.  If a driver causes a crash through his or her own negligence, a Ft. Myers personal injury attorney like Randall Spivey can help the victims of the collision pursue a claim to receive compensation for their losses.

Road Safety Goals and Suggestions in 2016

The 2016 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements includes a wide variety of suggested improvements, including:

• Promoting and increasing the use of collision avoidance technologies in vehicles. Collision avoidance technologies include things like automatic braking systems that can detect when the car is about to hit an obstacle and can warn drivers or hit the brakes if drivers do not react.
• Completing rail safety initiatives, including implementing positive train controls (PTCs) to prevent rail accidents. In 2008, a law passed mandating that positive train controls be required by the close of 2015. However, Congress extended the deadline because of risk of a rail shutdown.
• Phasing out the use of rail tank cars to transport crude oil and other flammable liquids. The deadline for removing these types of cars from service is 2025.
• Requiring rear-crash prevention systems in all vehicles. The NTSB notes that technologies aimed at preventing rear-end accidents should be required as standard equipment in commercial vehicles and all other highway vehicles.

Some of the top driver-related safety issues that the NTSB focused on included the risk of driver distraction, the dangers of driver fatigue, the dangers of drunk driving, and the risk that untreated medical conditions could lead to collisions.

The NTSB is urging regulators to require those who drive for work to be certified as medically fit before they can take jobs where they are behind the wheel. To tackle the risks associated with drunk and drugged driving, the Board would like to see the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit lowered to .05 instead of the current .08 percent. 

These NTSB recommendations are just suggestions and there is no guarantee the NTSB will get anything on its wish list. Still, drivers should be aware of the Board's primary concerns and avoid the high risk behaviors that the NTSB warns about. A driver who is fatigued, drunk, distracted or otherwise in violation of safety rules should be held accountable if he causes a crash.

A personal injury attorney can help victims pursue cases to get compensation when a driver is careless or breaks the rules and causes a collision.  Contact the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. today.