Articles by David Shepardson

Safety Head Criticizes Tesla Over Its Release of New Self-Driving Software

The head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on Monday criticized electric carmaker Tesla Inc.’s decision to provide new self-driving software to vehicle owners without addressing safety concerns that the agency raised after a series of fatal accidents. NTSB …

FAA Proposes Minimum 10-Hour Rest Period for Flight Attendants

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Thursday it was proposing to require flight attendants receive at least 10 hours of rest time between shifts after Congress had directed the action in 2018, according to a document released Thursday. Airlines for …

Biden to Nominate Cliff to Head Auto Safety Agency

President Joe Biden plans to nominate the No. 2 auto safety official and a former California Air Resources Board official to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the White House confirmed on Tuesday. Steven Cliff, who has been …

Whistleblower Tells Congress Facebook Puts Profits Over Safety, Urges Regulation

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen will urge the U.S. Congress on Tuesday to regulate the social media giant, which she plans to liken to tobacco companies that for decades denied that smoking damaged health, according to prepared testimony …

Airports Urged to Avoid Using Firefighting Foam With PFAS

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had urged U.S. airports to limit the use of firefighting foam with the chemical PFAS due to the environmental and public health risks as it evaluates possible alternatives. PFAS, nicknamed “forever chemicals” because …

EPA Urged by 21 States to Toughen Vehicle Emissions Rules

A group of 21 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and several major U.S. cities urged the Biden administration to finalize significantly stricter vehicle emissions rules than it has proposed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in August called …

U.S. Road Travel Up 11.5% in July

U.S. motorists drove 11.5% more miles in July as driving nearly matched pre-COVID levels and more Americans returned to offices and took leisure trips. The Federal Highway Administration said Thursday motorists drove 290.1 billion miles in July, up 30 billion …

Here’s Why Auto Safety Investigators Are Still Probing Takata Air Bag Inflators

Why are U.S. auto safety regulators opening a new investigation into Takata air bag inflators installed in millions of vehicles built over the past 20 years? Some of those vehicles have the original inflators that were installed when they were …

Traffic Deaths Up 10.5% in First Three Months of 2021

New data shows a sustained increase in U.S. traffic deaths that regulators ascribe to impaired driving, speeding, a failure to wear seats beats and other unsafe behavior since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration …

How Biden Vaccine Mandate Will Test OSHA

The U.S. agency in charge of the Biden administration’s new rules requiring COVID-19 vaccination at many private workplaces faces stiff challenges in developing and enforcing the mandate. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that all staff at U.S. private-sector firms …