The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "traffic accidents" ...
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Streets of Death
The investigation shows how a lax legal system and budget issues have kept the South Korean government from effectively maintaining its Traffic Safety Law.
Tags: traffic accidents; car accidents; traffic
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Jeep Grand Cherokee Investigation
Currently, there are “three million Jeep Grand Cherokees on the road today”. Furthermore, they have been involved in “hundreds of fatal fire accidents in the past 11 years”. The investigation revealed a flaw in the vehicle; the fuel tank is located in the rear of the vehicle. This flaw is the main cause of these fatal deaths. After these accidents had occurred, the automaker has relocated the gas tank in a more secure location and since then zero accidents have occurred.
Tags: Chrysler; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; SUVs; consumers; automobiles; crash; damage; defect; auto safety; transportation
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Dead by Mistake
This series documents the massive number of deaths and injuries caused from preventable medical errors. These errors cause "more deaths than traffic accidents', more specifically they cause nearly "200,000 deaths per year" Behind the numbers are the people who trusted the medical system, including the 30 individual cases spotlighted in this series. Furthermore, once the problems were revealed the medical community and the government failed to take the effective steps necessary to solve the problems.
Tags: Medical; medicine; health care; hospitals; errors; patients; risk; victims; death; mistakes; safety; system
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Seeing Red: A Daily Herald Investigation of Red-Light Cameras
This series observes red-light cameras and if they are improving safety or becoming money makers for the government. The series took a closer look at who gets tickets and why, where the revenue goes, how the locations for the cameras are chosen, how to appeal the tickets received, and if they have improved safety conditions. One of the major findings is these cameras are not being installed at intersections with a high accident rates, instead being placed in high traffic areas.
Tags: traffic; tickets; roads; driving; drivers; devices; investigation; Illinois; transportation
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Fatal Experience: Teen Drivers and Rural Roads
This series explores the issues of teen drivers and rural roads. "The purpose is to raise awareness and prevent additional accidents, not just among teens, but people of all ages." Though, it is a known fact that teens take more risks when driving, which lead to higher fatal accident rates. Further, a majority of these fatal accidents took place in one specific school district, which led to additional research.
Tags: accidents; teens; Tazewell County; Illinois; driving; rural roads; deaths; crashes; cars; vehicles; traffic; tragedy
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Right By Miles
This story looked back to a traffic accident six years ago (2002) in which a car driven by a teenager ran off a back country road in the middle of the night and his passenger, a 16-year-old named Miles White, was killed. The polk County Shriff's Office investigated, ruled it a single car accident and charged the 19-year-old driver with DUI-manslaughter. The Times was able to show that the sheriff's office had engaged in a cover-up. It was not a single-car crash; it was caused by a Polk County sheriff's deputy, who, as it turned out, was a sexual predator who like teenage boys. He chased the boys that night, hit their rear bumper and ran them off the road. The Times showed that before the accident, the sheriff's office had been warned that they had a deputy who was using his undercover vehicle to stalk teenage boys. They had not heeded that warning and left him on the road. If he then caused an accident that killed a boy, the department would have been on the hook for multimillion dollar damages in a wrongful death lawsuit. The office chose instead to cover up the truth.
Tags: sheriff's department; Florida; car accidents; cover-up; sexual predators; wrongful dath
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Speed Unlimited
In fiscal year 2005-06, only 2.4 percent of people with serious speeding tickets (going more than 55 mph and more than 15 miles over the limit) were convicted as charged. This series reveals loopholes in state law that encourage prosecutors and judges to let speeders get away with their crimes. This sort of leniency is dangerous, as many people each year die from speed-related collisions.
Tags: speeding; traffic accidents; highway; transportation; state government; police
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I-95 Speed zones are not most dangerous
This investigation found that speed zones in Brevard County, FL, were established not necessarily because of high rates of speed-related accidents, but merely in areas where people who supported the law lived. Some of the zones are actually in places with very low rates of speeding-related crashes.
Tags: traffic; transportation; highways; department of highway safety; microsoft access
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A grim cycle: 8 dead so far
"The story was about motorcycle fatalities. We found that speed, alcohol and riding without a helmet contributed to a rise in motorcycle fatalities."
Tags: motorcycles; driving; safety; roads; traffic accidents; fatal accidents
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Certified Dangerous: Used Cars' Airbags
An investigation of 1650 consumer complaints about the failure of airbags to deploy during car accidents such as head-on collisions, rollovers and broadside crashes. Some airbags are not replaced when the vehicle is being fixed after an accident, leaving the driver more succeptible to injury.
Tags: airbag; safety; t-bone; traffic; ford; gm; honda; kia; mitsubishi; nissan; volkswagen; auto accidents