The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "crash" ...
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Driven To Distraction
This seven-month-long investigation revealed serious crashes, injuries and deaths caused by a danger that now exists in virtually every police car in the United States. Dashboard-mounted technology has turned modern patrol cars into offices on wheels. Computers, cameras, GPS devices, radios, smart phones and license plate scanners compete for the officer’s attention while driving, and the consequences of those distractions can be life altering. The series led to significant policy changes at two of the largest police departments in Texas. It sparked action from the world’s largest organization of police leaders. And our reporting also became mandatory safety training viewing for every highway trooper in one state.
Tags: Police; patrol cars; crashes; injuries; deaths; driving safety; highway trooper
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Uncounted Casualties
A three-day series that analyzed causes of death for 266 Texas veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The six-month investigation uncovered previously unknown information, pulling data from a variety of federal, state and local sources. The series, which also depended on extensive interviews with family members and fellow service members, revealed the startling number of Texas veterans dying of prescription drug overdoses, suicides and motor vehicle crashes. The newspaper's analysis was hailed by epidemiologists and former Department of Veterans Affairs researchers as an important step in understanding veteran mortality, and led to calls for better government tracking of how veterans are dying.
Tags: Veterans; Iraq; Afghanistan; prescription drug overdoses; suicides; vehicle crashes
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HBO Real Sports: Hockey's Darkest Day
In 2011 a plane carrying a Russian hockey team crashed shortly after takeoff--the deadliest accident in the history of professional sports. A five-month Real Sports investigation uncovered massive safety problems in the Russian hockey league. The league spent millions on player salaries but "a few bucks" on everything else--including travel. The plane that crashed was operated by a cheap, third-rate company that had been banned from flying to Europe because they had been cited so many times for major safety violations. The crew of the plane hadn't even completed their training. Our investigation showed that the lack of safety in the world’s second best hockey league—called the KHL—often extends to the ice where KHL team doctors use IV’s and drugs to get their players to perform better on the ice. One young star died after receiving an injection of banned drugs from team doctors. When it came to travel, the lack of safe conditions was nearly universal. Practically every team flew on a Soviet-era jet—jets that make up 3% of the world’s fleet but account for 42% of the world’s accidents. These jets are in such poor condition that most Russian airlines wont use them. Yet even after the crash the KHL continued to use these planes, a fact they initially denied. Shortly after we interviewed the KHL Vice President, the league changed its rules. Now teams fly strictly on modern equipment.
Tags: Russia; Russian hockey team; plane crash; the KHL;
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NC Auto Inspection's-Failing the Test
Every year, North Carolina auto owners must take vehicles to private garages for state-mandated safety and emissions testing meant to prevent traffic crashes and curb pollution. Drivers cannot put a car on the road legally unless it passes inspection. A review inspection data showed the program is undermined by unscrupulous garages who do a volume business, passing unsafe cars, and by other who take bribes or cheat customers with uncessary repairs.
Tags: auto owners; emissions testing; unsafe cars
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Asleep at the Wheel
Driver fatigue kills more people on the highways than texting, cell phone use and all other distractions combined. Yet the underlying factors of fatigue-related crashes have yet to capture the attention of Congress, the public and federal regulators. The WCNC-TV Investigative Team spent months drilling down into one cause that has received almost no national attention: sleep apnea. An estimated 13 to 20 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea and with increases in obesity which is related to the disorder, that number is climbing. Studies show drivers with sleep apnea are exponentially more likely to crash. And millions of long-haul truckers are more prone to sleep apnea than the average driver of a "four-wheeler".
Tags: broadcast; sleep apnea; drivers; crash
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Their Crime, Your Dime
Some of Washington state's costliest public assistance programs harbored a secret over the years. It went unnoticed as taxpayer-funded programs provided food stamps and cash welfare benefits ballooned following the economic crash. Many worthy recipients came forward to get help. So, too, did criminals who found they could cheat Washington's lax fraud prevention programs to the sum of millions of dollars.
Tags: welfare; taxpayers; criminals; lax; economic crash
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Short Sale Shenanigans
The story uncovers a little known practice in this post-bubble real estate world: the people who make money flipping and flopping houses in a time of crashing prices and foreclosures.
Tags: flopping houses; short sale; housing market; foreclosures
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Blackwater 61
The story investigates the plane crash that killed six people in Afghanistan, including three American servicemen. The flight should have been routine, even insignificant. A cockpit voice recorded revealed incompetence among the pilots involved.
Tags: plane crash; soldier; Afghanistan; Blackwater; Blackwater 61
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Flying Cheap
The February 2009 crash of Continental Flight 3407 revealed "a little-known trend in the airline industry: major airlines have outsourced more and more of their flights to obscure regional carriers." These smaller carriers operate with different safety practices with pilots that are often paid less, with less training and fewer flight hours.
Tags: airlines; aviation safety; Federal Aviation Administration; flight safety; transportation
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Crash Reports
The reporter finds that a new district attorney chooses not to follow up on pending negligent vehicular homicide cases, thereby enabling many of the drivers to continue driving on the road.
Tags: car accident; manslaughter; driver; district attorney; crash report