LIANE HANSEN, host:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Liane Hansen.
This past week, the Obama administration proposed that the federal government take over safety regulation of the country's subway and light rail systems. The effort would require congressional approval and would affect millions of riders in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.
Administration officials say the growing number of commuter rail collisions prompted them to act. A metro train crash in Washington, D.C. this summer killed nine people.
Deborah Hersman spearheaded the investigation into that collision. She is now the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, and she joins us from her office in Washington. Welcome to the program.
Ms. DEBORAH HERSMAN (Chair, National Transportation Safety Board): Thank you.
HANSEN: Give us your reaction to the administration's proposed federal safety takeover.
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, we think this is a step in the right direction. The safety board has made numerous recommendations to individual rail
transit systems and oversight agencies over the years. But unfortunately, the lack of federal safety regulations has really hindered improvement of safety in areas such as crash-worthiness of the cars, an adequate oversight. And so we really think that this effort is going in the right direction.
HANSEN: So, how would federal oversight change the way local subways and light rail systems operate, given the things that you want to change?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, like, let's say, for example, the cars that are used on
transit systems. These are cars are purchased largely with federal dollars and we believe that if there are some federal monies that there should be some strings attached. You should make sure that those cars are safe, that they could perform in a crash, protect the people inside of them.
It makes no sense when we stand out at the accident site where the metro collision occurred, and you have one set of tracks that carried the transit trains and right next to them you have tracks that carry Amtrak trains. The Amtrak trains have crash-worthiness standards, but the metro trains don't. The people who are riding on either of those should enjoy protection and expect that.
HANSEN: Why haven't local governments handled the safety of their commuter systems on their own to the safety satisfaction that you're talking about?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, I think sometimes it's jurisdictional concerns. You might have, for example, in the Washington area you've got a tri-state oversight committee. They don't really have the force to do what needs to be done. They also don't have the staffing to do what they need to do. We have looked at operations from Chicago to D.C. to Boston. We find that there are many challenges for some of these local oversight entities.
We think that oversight needs to have teeth in order to be effective. You can't just write a letter and say something needs to be fixed. You need to be able to say, this needs to be fixed and there has to be compliance.
HANSEN: And how do you do that? How do you enforce compliance?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, you can get your authority taken away. You can get fined. They can, you know, limit the amount of money that's been provided for certain operations. There has to be a mechanism to raise the bar on safety.
HANSEN: Deborah Hersman is chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The administration also announced last week that it would propose new safety requirements for long distance buses. It would require that seatbelts be installed, roofs be strengthened. What was it that prompted these proposals?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, unfortunately this is an issue where the safety board has made recommendations for decades. In 1999, we conducted our most recent safety study on motor coach safety. We found that there were many areas that needed to be addressed with respect to crash-worthiness, protecting the passengers in the seating compartment through all accident scenarios, roof crush standards, window glazing - many issues that needed to be addressed.
And, again, this is an area where we saw that the federal standards just really were lacking. We think it's important that the administration is addressing this issue, although we think it's overdue, but we're glad to see it moving forward.
HANSEN: What are some of the other priorities for the NTSB when it comes to safety?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, unfortunately, we have about 800 recommendations that have yet to be acted upon. About half of those are in the aviation arena. The good news is that 80 percent of our recommendations that we've issued over our history - and we've issued 13,000 recommendations in the last four years - have actually been adopted.
But unfortunately, there's many that have not been addressed, such as improving runway safety to prevent collisions on the airport surface or takeoffs on the wrong runway, reducing the dangers to aircraft in icing conditions and also, our Helicopter Emergency Medical Service. Last year was the worst year on record for EMS operations involving helicopters. We saw a record 28 fatalities and nine accidents, and this really prompted the safety boards to issue some additional recommendations in this area.
HANSEN: During your tenure at the NTSB, you've been on the scene of 17 major transportation accidents. What lessons has your agency learned or did you learn from that experience?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, I think one lesson that we all learned is, unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragedy for change to come about in our transportation system. By and large, our transportation industries are very safe, but sometimes these big accidents attract the attention of the public. And whether it's the Colgan accident that occurred in Buffalo, killing 50, in February of this year or the metro accident, these events shine a harsh spotlight on the system. And really, unfortunately, it takes something like that to result in the changes that we've been seeking for many years.
HANSEN: You were sworn in as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board in July of this year, and you're going to have the position until 2011. It seems the NTSB is getting rather aggressive and vocal about some of these safety needs. Is that a reflection of you?
Ms. HERSMAN: Well, I think the safety board's mission is to improve transportation safety. And the only way that we can do that is if we can affect change. We can't require anyone to do anything. We don't have money to incentivize people to make change. What we can do is really use the bully pulpit that we have. We are not the policymakers. We're an investigative agency. And we just need to provide the information that we have so that others can use that and make the right decisions.
HANSEN: Deborah Hersman is the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and she joined us from her office here in Washington, D.C. Thank you very much.
Ms. HERSMAN: You're very welcome, Liane.
