Transportation
No tracking for hazardous materials traveling across Iowa
“Each day, trucks and railcars hauling hazardous materials share roadways with Iowa drivers and pass through Iowa towns and fields. But unless there is an accident, officials often don’t know what materials pass through the state.” Read the full story from IowaWatch/Investigative News Network here.
Read MoreFlorida’s chronic, tragic record of pedestrian crashes
The Orlando Sentinel completed its three-part series “Blood In the Streets” this week, examining Central Florida’s chronic, tragic record of pedestrian crashes, the worst in the country. Using state and federal data, reporters Scott Powers and Arelis Hernandez reviewed thousands of pedestrian crashes to target scores of interviews. Their findings: The problems are rooted in many decades…
Read MoreWith no ride to school, African-American and poor children disproportionately hit in traffic in urban districts
In Ohio, African-American children and those from lower-income families are far more likely to be hit by cars than white children in the suburbs, according to an Akron Beacon Journal analysis, and the reason is simple: The state has created inequality in transportation to school.
Read MoreCorrosion plagues new Bay Bridge span
“The Bee compared that Caltrans study against about 115,000 pages of construction and inspection records and found the conclusions were based on wrong information. The records show that the agency misstated in its report the extent of water contamination and its own inspection efforts. Conclusions that corrosion caused no harm were based partly on underestimates…
Read MoreHow New Jersey Transit Failed Sandy’s Test
“On the weekend before Sandy thundered into New Jersey, transit officials studied a map showing bright green and orange blocks. On the map, the area where most New Jersey Transit trains were being stored showed up as orange – or dry. So keeping the trains in its centrally-located Meadows Maintenance Complex and the nearby Hoboken yards seemed…
Read MoreBig costs and lack of oversight for southern California transit agency
Investigative Newsource in San Diego reports on the North County Transit District, which was overhauled and largely outsourced four years ago with significant consequences. Newsource reports that the “the turnover among upper management at North County Transit District has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and has, at times, put riders at risk.”
Read MoreGlass companies pushing unnecessary windshield replacements
10 News (WTSP), Tampa Bay’s CBS affiliate, exposes cracks in Florida’s zero-deductable windshield-replacement law. While the law is designed to help consumers, 10 News shows the lack of policing over fraud has lead to a proliferation of glass companies pushing unnecessary replacements. The effect has been rising rates for all policyholders, and now, state legislators are…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Crime inside NFL stadiums, Boeing supply chain outsourced, NRA freebies
The Sacramento BeeGuns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.” The Denver PostDenver’s 911 call review shows a pattern of problemsIn…
Read MoreTriMet overtime: ‘Exhaustion has become part of the culture’ at transit agency
“Reports of drowsy drivers, including three with multiple incidents, are just one sign that Oregon’s largest transit agency is playing a game of chicken with fatigue. The newspaper’s eight-month examination found that the budget-battered agency allows operators to manipulate work rules to log as many as 22 hours in a 24-hour period, filling open runs…
Read MoreArmored car industry leaves workers unprotected
A lack of industry regulation, jurisdictional confusion at the federal level and trucks in bad conditions leave armored car drivers unprotected, The Texas Observer reports. The Bureau of Labor statistics reports an average of four deaths in the armored car industry per year, but experts say they have yet to see a figure on fatalities…
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