Safety Recommendations

The NTSB issues safety recommendations to address specific safety concerns uncovered during investigations and to specify actions to help prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future. Safety recommendations are our most important product because they alert government, industry, and the public to the critical changes that are needed to prevent transportation accidents and crashes, reduce injuries, and save lives.

We:

issue recommendations to the organizations best able to take corrective action, such as the US DOT and its modal administrations, the Coast Guard, other federal and state agencies, manufacturers, operators, labor unions, and industry and trade organizations.
issue safety recommendations at any point during the investigation of transportation accidents and in connection with safety studies.
monitor the progress of action to implement each recommendation until it is closed, which usually takes several years.

Find Our Recommendations

CAROL   (Case Analysis and Reporting Online) is our search tool for investigations and safety recommendations across all modes. CAROL includes all NTSB recommendations. See the Field Descriptions page for specific information about safety recommendations data fields.

Recommendation Spotlight

Each month, we shine the spotlight on a few recommendations that have been successfully implemented (closed acceptable action) and are helping to further safety. These recommendations span all modes of transportation and recommendation recipients. Visit the Recommendation Spotlight Archive to see previous safety wins.

We urge recommendation recipients to keep us informed of the progress on implementing recommendations. If you do, you may see your recommendation spotlighted here.

NTSB’s School Bus Stop-Arm Camera Recommendation Takes Hold in the States

NTSB’s call for states to permit school bus stop-arm cameras is steadily taking hold across the country, with 25 states enacting laws to prevent illegal school bus passings that have reached an epidemic level, putting student safety at risk.

Florida, Michigan, and Delaware are the most recent states to adopt NTSB’s stop-arm camera safety recommendation, which the agency issued in 2020 to 28 states and the District of Columbia. The agency made the recommendation (H-20-12) following its investigation of a 2018 Rochester, Indiana crash, where three children were struck and killed and another severely injured when crossing a two-lane highway to board their school bus.

The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimates that over 41 million vehicles illegally passed school buses in a 180-day school year. Stop-arm cameras record the license plates of vehicles illegally passing school buses, enabling police to issue citations to violators, an effective deterrent to dangerous driver behavior.

Read NTSB’s testimony in support of stop-arm camera legislation before Oregon’s House Judiciary Committee.

Texas Adopts NTSB’s Recommendation to Use Variable Speed Limits to Prevent Highway Crashes

Following NTSB’s recommendation that Texas use variable speed limit signs to reduce crashes occurring on its highways during inclement weather, the state recently authorized the Texas Transportation Commission to use them on its roads.

Variable speed limit signs, unlike static ones, can be adjusted when changing road conditions require safer speed limits to reduce the risk of highway crashes.

NTSB first asked Texas (H-05-20) to install variable speed limit signs following the agency’s investigation of a 2003 crash near Hewitt, Texas, where a motorcoach bus skidded during braking, crossed over a grassy median, entered the southbound lane, and collided with an SUV. The crash occurred during inclement weather with reduced visibility due to fog, haze, and heavy rain. Seven people died, and several other people were injured in the crash.

In 2023, the NTSB asked Texas again (H-23-3) to use variable speed limit signs following the agency’s investigation of a 2021 Fort Worth crash where six people died in a multi-vehicle pileup on an icy highway with a posted speed of 75 miles per hour.