According to a July 19, AP report “The operator of a light-rail train that crashed [in San Francisco], injuring dozens of passengers as well as the operator, came under scrutiny on Sunday as federal investigators tried to figure out why he turned off the automatic controls moments before the accident. Ted Turpin, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the operator switched the controls from automatic to manual in a tunnel near the West Portal Station and that he never engaged the emergency brake. Had the operator kept the autopilot on, Mr. Turpin said, the train would have slowed down before arriving at the station and most likely not have careened into a parked train while going 23 miles per hour.”
Mini-Car Fatalities Two to Three Times That of Larger Vehicles
April 20, 2009
Although lauded for their environmental benefits, The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported that “mini-cars” do a poor job of protecting their occupants. In fact, research shows that the chance of a fatality in collisions with mid-size vehicles is almost double that of larger vehicles, and that