Good morning. My name is Tom Chapman, and I have the honor of serving as the 46th member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
NTSB is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in highway, railroad, marine, and pipeline.
Based on our investigations, we issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents.
I joined the Board in January of 2020. Overall, I have nearly five decades of transportation experience in government, legislative, and regulatory affairs. Most of my career experience is in aviation. But in terms of transportation safety, that is not where our greatest challenges currently lie.
Each year, more than 40,000 people are killed on our roadways. It is for that reason I have devoted much of my attention to traffic safety since joining NTSB. And it is why I appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning to talk about an issue which is very important to me . . . that is, our initiatives to address excessive speed. It’s one of our most persistent challenges, with roughly one-third of traffic fatalities involving speed.
In 2022, NTSB investigated a horrifying crash that resulted in nine fatalities in North Las Vegas, Nevada. I was the Board member “on call” at the time of the crash, and I launched with our investigators to the scene of the tragedy. That experience deeply affected me.
On Jan. 29, 2022, a 2018 Dodge Challenger entered an intersection against a red traffic signal. The Challenger was traveling at a recorded speed of 103 mph in a 35 mph zone.
The Challenger collided full force with a Toyota van crossing through the intersection at the time, and that impact triggered a chain reaction crash involving a total of five vehicles. Seven occupants of the Toyota minivan were killed, all of them members of the same family. The driver of the Challenger was killed, as was his passenger. Again, a total of nine people died in the crash. There were also serious injuries among occupants of the other vehicles involved in the crash.
We determined the crash was caused by excessive speed, drug-impaired driving, and Nevada’s failure to deter the driver’s speeding recidivism due to systemic deficiencies.
Among other important recommendations, we urged the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, or “NHTSA,” to require as standard equipment in all new vehicles Intelligent Speed Assistance systems that, at a minimum, warn the driver when the vehicle exceeds the speed limit. NHTSA is the federal agency responsible for setting motor vehicle safety standards.
In addition, and relevant for today’s event, we asked NHTSA to develop guidelines to assist states in implementing pilot Intelligent Speed Assistance interlock programs for high-risk drivers who speed.
In terms of road safety, the recommendations resulting from the North Las Vegas tragedy are among the most important issued by NTSB in recent years. I am hopeful NHTSA will respond favorably and work to implement our recommendations.
And we congratulate the Commonwealth of Virginia for adopting legislation empowering judges to order extreme and repeat high-speed offenders to install Intelligent Speed Assistance. This is a key step, because rapidly evolving technology holds great promise in helping us address the scourge of excessive speed on our roads.
Again, my thanks for the opportunity to speak. I am moved and inspired by the stories others have shared with us today.
