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.”

Planning a road trip? Consider this.
One third of the fatal truck crash reports cited contributing factors such as as speeding, fatigue and inattention according to the statistics of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Looking at 2010 statistics of the 3446 fatal accidents involving big rigs suggests that truck drivers are generally good