NTSB chief to fed agency: Stop using misleading statistics

WASHINGTON (AP) — With traffic fatalities spiking higher, the nation’s top safety investigator says a widely cited government statistic that 94% of serious crashes are solely due to driver error is misleading and that the Transportation Department should stop using it.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she’s surprised the wording remains on the department’s website even as the Biden administration pledges to embark on a broader strategy to stave off crashes through better road design, auto safety features and other measures.

Auto safety advocates have been calling on the department for years to stop using the statistic, including requests by Homendy in recent months as well as a letter from auto safety groups to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last month. They call the figure an unacceptable “excuse” for surging crashes. In a section touting the safety potential of automated vehicles, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s website states “94% of serious crashes are due to human error.”

“That has to change,” Homendy said of NHTSA's continuing use of the statistic. "It's dangerous."

She said the public should be enraged that nearly 40,000 people are dying annually in traffic accidents and millions are injured, but rather sees it as “just a risk people take.”

“What's happening is we have a culture that accepts it,” she said.

“At the same time it relieves everybody else of responsibility they have for improving safety, including DOT,” she added, referring to the Department of Transportation. “You can’t simultaneously say we’re focused on a safe system approach — making sure everybody who shares responsibility for road safety is taking action to eliminate...