HS investigates those accidents that have a significant impact on the public's confidence in highway transportation safety, generate high public interest and media attention, or highlight national safety issues. HS staff investigates accidents involving issues with wide-ranging safety significance, such as collapses of highway bridge structures, fatalities on public transportation vehicles (such as buses and vans), and collisions at highway/rail grade crossings. In addition to these more catastrophic accident events, HS also conducts studies based on trends emerging from NTSB accident investigations and from other research and accident data to identify common risks or underlying causes of accidents.
The Investigations Division is comprised of two investigative teams comprised of six individuals. Team members are distributed among five regional offices located in Parsippany, New Jersey; Atlanta, Georgia; Arlington, Texas; Denver, Colorado and Los Angeles, California, to enhance geographic coverage and reduce response time.
The Report Development Division is responsible for researching and developing national highway safety issues, managing the development and preparation of the final accident reports, coordinating the presentation of these reports at a public Board meeting, and issuing safety recommendations. The Division is also responsible for managing Safety Hearings related to ongoing accident investigations and public/forums or other venues designed to make the public more aware of safety issues. The staff of this division also writes the majority of the highway related speeches and Congressional testimony for the office and for Board Members.
Don Karol, Director
Barbara Czech, Deputy Director, Investigations
Dwight Foster, Deputy Director, Operations
Mark Bagnard, Investigations Division Chief
Robert Molloy, Report Development Division Chief
National Transportation Safety Board
490 L'Enfant Plaza East, S.W.
Washington, DC 20594
(202) 314-6000(phone)
