Since 2007, Teen Driver Safety Week has emphasized safe driving practices among young drivers and fostered important conversations on the future of teen driver safety.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has long advocated for teen and young driver safety. This includes directly encouraging teen drivers to use their seat belts, put their phones away while driving, always drive sober, avoid drowsy driving, limit the number of passengers in the car, and follow the speed limit.
The NTSB also issues recommendations to states to improve their laws, whether specifically for teen drivers (for example, by enacting strong graduated drivers licensing laws) or for all drivers (such as enforcing a .05 g/dL blood alcohol concentration limit and strong seat belt laws).
In addition to teen driver responsibility and changes to laws that will make driving safer for teens, advanced driver safety technologies are shaping the future of teen driver safety.
According to a recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, crash avoidance features and teen-specific vehicle technologies have the potential to prevent or mitigate up to 75% of fatal crashes involving teen drivers. But that potential depends on properly using this technology.
Below is a guide to the functions and safety benefits for collision avoidance technologies that are widely available in vehicles today.
Adaptive Cruise Control: Adaptive Cruise Control helps your vehicle maintain a safe following distance from the vehicle in front of it by automatically adjusting your car’s speed. This technology helps reduce the likelihood of rear-end collisions, a common crash scenario among teen drivers.
Lane-Keeping Assist: Lane-Keeping Assist uses cameras and sensors to monitor lane markings and automatically provide steering assistance to keep the vehicle in the lane.
Forward Collision Warning: Forward Collision Warning systems use sensors to monitor your vehicle’s speed and the speed and distance of the vehicle in front of you and sends alerts of a potential crash.
Automatic Emergency Braking: Automatic Emergency Braking takes Forward Collision Warning to the next level by automatically applying the brakes to avoid or mitigate a crash.
Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking:Pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems are designed to initiate an automatic braking sequence to avoid a forward crash with a pedestrian or bicyclist.
Blind Spot Warning: Blind Spot Warning systems alert drivers with visual or haptic warnings during lane changes if a vehicle is detected in an adjacent lane.
Adaptive Headlights:Adaptive Headlights improve lighting to changing roadway conditions, such as a curve, to improve visibility on the road. Because nighttime driving is particularly risky for teen drivers, adaptive headlights can improve driving conditions for inexperienced drivers. As collision avoidance technology becomes more broadly accepted and evolves, getting the best safety benefit from the technology for the newest drivers remains critical to teen driver safety. During Teen Driver Safety Week, we encourage parents and their teens to understand the driver assistance technologies in their vehicles and learn how to properly use them to improve safety.
NTSB recorder specialist listens to and transcribes audio from a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in the CVR Listening Room.
If you watch the news coverage of a plane crash, you will very likely see investigators wearing the iconic blue jacket with “NTSB” written in bright yellow on the back. On scene, these investigators evaluate the wreckage and locate the flight recorders or “black boxes,” which contain essential information about the accident. Investigators transport the recovered flight recorders, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), to the NTSB headquarters in Washington, DC, where engineers use state-of-the-art technology and equipment within our Vehicle Recorder Lab to review the device’s content.
Throughout the year, the Vehicle Recorder Lab receives on average more than 400 electronic devices to examine. The experts within this lab play an important role in determining the probable cause of accidents in all modes of transportation. Most of the devices the Vehicle Recorder Lab receives are not CVRs and FDRs, which are designed to survive and accident, but other electronic devices that are no longer functioning and often require use of our Chip Recovery Lab.
Few get the opportunity to go inside our Vehicle Recorder Lab, see the technology we use, or meet the people behind the scenes whose electronic forensics skills help determine the probable cause of accidents. Let’s take a virtual look inside the lab.
A flight data recorder inserted into the Data Extraction Rack.
Arrival to the “Dirty Room”
Once a recorder arrives at NTSB headquarters, engineers take it to the lab’s “Dirty Room,” so called because of the condition of many of the electronic devices that arrive at the lab (damaged and usually covered with debris). First, the condition of the evidence as it arrived in the lab is documented and photographed. Engineers then perform any mechanical work needed to access the internal components of a damaged device. This can involve using cutting wheels, shears, and even hammers and pry bars. The devices are disassembled then transferred to other rooms and labs that have more specialized equipment to conduct closer inspections.
Engineer evaluates an Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) from a recent crash investigation in the dirty room.
Microelectronics Lab
In the Microelectronics Lab, engineers inspect the electronic devices to determine if they contain information that can be downloaded and analyzed, if they require further detailed repair and recovery, or if they are damaged beyond recovery. Sometimes devices arrive relatively undamaged and can be downloaded using a manufacturer’s standard procedure, but often the devices are severely damaged by fire, impact, and/or liquid immersion and are no longer functional. In the Microelectronics Lab, engineers can use methods that include working down to the individual chip level to extract data while minimizing the possibility of data loss.
An active workstation within the Microelectronics Lab used to test and probe electronic devices.
Visual Inspection Microscopes
An initial visual inspection is performed using digital and optical microscopes. The condition of the integrated circuits and other essential electronic components inside each device are evaluated and documented. Engineers identify areas of concern on circuit boards and electronic components such as broken connections, cracked components, or signs of corrosion. Once engineers ensure any damage to the memory chips have been repaired, a transplant of the memory chip can be conducted to a working device, or in some cases, the memory chip can be read directly.
X-Ray & CT Scanner
An x-ray taken from the lab’s x-ray scanner. Here, a microSD card from a device involved in an accident is examined for potential damage.
If engineers identify any concerns during the visual examination, they will transfer the memory device to the X-ray scanner to identify any potential internal issues on the memory devices. Under certain circumstances, a computed tomography (CT) scanner is also used to construct a 3D view of the component for further inspection. Once reviewed, engineers use the NTSB’s vast array of chip recovery tools to collect data.
Engineer uses equipment at a work station in the Microelectronics Lab.
FDR Laboratory
Once engineers have completed the initial inspection and documentation of the recorders, they bring the device to the FDR lab to process the raw recording into a format that can be used to help understand the circumstances of an accident.
A shelf unit housing nearly every known type of flight data recorder. These surrogate recorders are known as “Golden Chassis”.
Golden Chassis
A pristine example of nearly every FDR model ever used in modern aircraft can be found in the lab. These “surrogates” are used as a resource and reference when extracting data from heavily damaged recorders. These reference models are referred to in the accident investigation community as “Golden Chassis.” Engineers transfer the physical memory device from the damaged recorder to the golden chassis to facilitate data downloads.
Data Extraction Rack
The data extraction rack powers undamaged or repaired flight recorders and serves as a method to interface with the manufacturer’s software to download data. Each FDR will contain at least 25 hours of parametric data and each CVR will contain 2 hours of cockpit audio for investigators to review and use to help determine what might have happened during a crash.
FDR Recovery
Once an FDR is downloaded, engineers process the raw and extracted data—such as altitude, airspeed, and heading—to engineering data. Engineers then validate and
plot the data, showing a visual representation of the parameters recorded. This can be time consuming as newer aircraft frequently record hundreds, if not over a thousand, parameters. Technical specialists that are parties to the investigation (designated organizations or companies that are invited to assist the NTSB investigation) may assist NTSB recorder lab engineers at this stage.
Engineer inserts surrogate flight data recorder into the Data Extraction Rack.
CVR Recovery
The lab has listening rooms to allow investigators and select party members to review the cockpit audio recordings. The recorder specialist and any party members on the CVR audio group review the entire recording and transcribe the pertinent portions of the recording (or the entire recording). By federal law, the original recording is never released by the NTSB and party members participating in the group sign non-disclosure agreements. The CVR audio group produces a transcript of summary of the recording and other investigators will typically work from the transcript or summary.
A recorder specialist reviews recorder audio and transcribes pertinent content in the CVR Listening Room.
In Conclusion
Extracting information from a new or damaged electronic recording device is often an arduous process, requiring superior technical and analytical skills. NTSB Recorder Lab engineers recognize the importance and gravity of their work and strive to provide the most accurate information for investigations. When we know what caused an accident, we can issue recommendations to those who can affect the change needed to make sure a similar accident doesn’t occur again. Retrieving the important recorded information from vehicles involved in a crash allows us to pinpoint issues and to make sure we’re addressing the right safety concerns, to make the best recommendations to improve transportation safety for everyone.
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