Articles by Joan Lowy

Federal Aviation Safety Regulators Ignore Whistleblowers: Watchdog

The Federal Aviation Administration has repeatedly dragged its feet in responding to whistleblower complaints about safety problems and stronger oversight of air safety is needed, a government watchdog said. Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, whose job is to protect from retaliation …

Lawmakers Block Safety Rules for Lithium Battery Shipments

Lawmakers responded to pleas from industry and foreign governments on Friday with a tentative agreement to block the Obama administration from requiring that air shipments of lithium batteries be treated as hazardous cargo because of the danger of fires during …

Safety Oversght of Government Aircraft Lacking

Nonmilitary government agencies operate more aircraft than the world’s largest airline but are subject to little federal safety oversight — a situation accident investigators say has contributed to air crashes and deaths. Federal, state and local agencies own or lease …

Probe Into Montana Oil Spill Cause to Take Months

A federal safety official says it will probably be months before investigators know what caused an ExxonMobil oil pipeline to rupture near Billings, Mont., spilling about 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River. Cynthia Quarterman, head of the …

Safety Advocates, Industry Spar Over Bus, Truck Safety Rules

On a clear June afternoon, a tractor-trailer truck crested a small rise on a stretch of interstate highway in Oklahoma. Plainly visible in the distance were more than a dozen cars and trucks that had stopped while a fender-bender was …

Technology to Prevent Bus Accidents Exists But Isn’t Implemented

The technology exists to prevent many bus crashes and to make it more likely passengers will survive those that do occur, but government regulators have failed to implement safety recommendations that in some case stretch back decades, safety advocates told …

Local California Fire Chief Unaware of Gas Line Before Explosion

Until a deadly explosion south of San Francisco last year, local firefighters had no idea there was a large gas transmission pipeline underneath their town — a recurring problem in pipeline accidents, federal safety officials said this week. Pacific Gas …

Feds Urges All States to Require Motorcycle Helmets

Federal safety officials are calling on states to require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets, citing a surge in fatalities since the late 1990s. Motorcycle deaths have increased over the last decade even as other traffic fatalities have declined, the …

U.S. Auto Fatalities Down But Safety Efforts Lag

The United States is lagging behind nearly every other high-income country in reducing annual traffic fatalities, said a report released this week by a U.S. government research panel. There’s some good news: U.S. traffic fatalities fell 9.7 percent in 2009 …

Distracted Pilots Becoming Aviation Safety Worry After Laptop Incident

Two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 miles past their destination because they were focused on laptop computers instead of cockpit displays may have opened a new avenue of concern for safety regulators — distracting personal electronic devices on the …