FairWarning Reports
Job-Related Falls Should Be Easy to Prevent, But Workers Are Still Dying in Record Numbers
Last August, Higinio Romero was working on the roof of a condo in South Florida when he slipped and fell two stories, landing on rocks below. Emergency workers found him unconscious and bleeding from his ears. Romero — a father of two children, 4 months old and 10 years old — died about an hour later. According to a sheriff’s report, he had unclipped his safety harness shortly before the fall.
Tracking the Cost in Lives of Higher Speed Limits
The federal government’s 1995 decision to allow states to set speed limits higher than 65 mph caused almost 14,000 additional deaths over 25 years on interstates and freeways, according to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Lawmakers Question Industry Influence at Consumer Product Safety Commission
Editor's note: Correction and update April 11. See note at end of the story.
Leaders of a House committee have called on the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ann Marie Buerkle, to disclose her contacts with business groups, citing a "disturbing'' report by FairWarning that "suggests you are prioritizing the interests of industry over the safety of consumers.''
ATV Deaths Top 15,000 Threshold in Latest Government Report
Since the early 1980s, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has conducted a grim census, tracking reports of deaths from crashes of all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs. Now the body count has risen above 15,250, according to the agency’s latest annual report, with more than one in five of the deaths suffered by children under 16.
Dubious Record for Highway Safety Agency in Public Information Lawsuits
After a Florida driver was killed in a crash in 2016 while his Tesla was in "Autopilot'' mode, regulators assured the public that Tesla's autonomous driving system was safe. An investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that after a key component called Autosteer was added, crash rates in Tesla cars had dropped.
Apple Has Swatted Away Distracted Driving Lawsuits Without Much Trouble So Far
Editor's note: See update at end of story.
Garrett Wilhelm was chatting with the Facetime app on his Apple iPhone, police say, as he sped along an interstate highway northwest of Dallas on the day before Christmas in 2014. He crashed his SUV into a sedan carrying a young family, killing five-year-old Moriah Modisette and injuring her parents and sister.
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