Disability readily approved by Railroad Retirement Board

A investigation by Walt Bogdanich and Nicholas Phillips of The New York Times found that the federal Railroad Retirement Board has not held a formal meeting in over two years.  The board oversees the retirement and disability benefits for railroad workers.  "Operating out of public view, with little scrutiny from Congress and even from its former inspector general, the retirement board has become the agency that cannot say no, last year approving virtually every single disability application it received — almost 98 percent. It did not matter where rail employees lived or where they worked."  The Times investigation found the board is riddled with problems, including a flawed process in identifying the validity of disability claims. The program's current inspector general, Martin J. Dickman, has made several proposals to improve the board's operations, but all have been rebuffed.

All-terrain vehicles are rolling by the thousands into the Minnesota woods, offering motorized thrills but also causing long-term damage to public wildlands, the Star Tribune revealed in a multimedia investigative report. As the state Department of Natural Resources struggles to curb destructive off-trail riding, the agency is also mapping an immense trail network for ATVs in the state's vast forests, according to reporters David Shaffer, Tom Meersman and Glenn Howatt and photographer Brian Peterson.

According to a report by Gavin Off of the Tulsa World, Federal Railroad Administration data shows Oklahoma has recorded 1,042 train accidents from 2000 to 2007. About half involved collisions with vehicles, and most of those took place at crossings without gates or flashing lights.

Marisol Bello of USA TODAY reported that billions of dollars will be needed to repair deficient bridges throughout the U.S. Twelve percent of the bridges throughout the U.S. currently rate as deficient. "It would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies in the USA, according to the latest estimate, made in 2005, by the American Society of Civil Engineers." The report includes a roll-over map listing the number of deficient bridges by state.

An investigation by reporter Larry Lebowitz of The Miami Herald shows that local taxpayers were promised massive improvements to the county's mass transit system when they approved a sales tax six years ago, yet those promises have not been fulfilled. Local leaders have already spent half the money on routine maintenance, 1,000 new jobs, and office furniture among other things. "At the heart of the matter: The 2002 campaign avoided any mention of chronic financial problems that had plagued the transit agency, and it promised far more improvements than the tax could possibly deliver." County commissioners are now considering other options, such as a steep fare increase, to fund improvements to the transit system.

Kevin Wack of the Portland Press Herald investigated the impact that drivers with suspended licenses are having on Maine roads. His series explores the dangers they pose and how efforts to address the problem are falling short. "The newspaper analyzed records from about 160,000 motor-vehicle crashes that occurred from 2003 to 2006 using a statewide database obtained through Maine's Freedom of Access Act; examined hundreds of individual driving records; and interviewed scores of motorists, victims, traffic safety researchers, policymakers and law enforcement officials." Accidents involving drivers with suspended licenses are six times more likely to be fatal; four times more likely to lead to an "incapacitating injury"; and 10 times more likely to involve alcohol or drugs.

An investigation by MSNBC.com's Bill Dedman shows that at least 17,000 bridges went more than two years between inspections, despite the federal law requiring an inspection every 24 months. The investigation was based on newly released data from the Federal Bridge Inventory which includes inspections through 2006. "Although Congress in 1971 ordered rigorous standards for inspecting bridges every 24 months, the records reveal a system in which the buck is passed down from federal to state to local governments, without penalty for those that fail to protect the public." The investigative package includes an interactive tracker which allows the reader to map the status of bridges on their own frequently travelled routes.

Brad Branan of The Fresno Bee looked at federal highway safety data to find that the majority of fatal accidents in the San Joaquin Valley occur on rural roads. "These roads are riskier than city roads, in part because motorists travel them at higher speeds. But the central San Joaquin Valley faces additional problems, including roads that don't meet safety standards and limited traffic enforcement."

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation's FARS data Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database is available from the IRE and NICAR database library.

A report by Mc Nelly Torres of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel shows that 34 percent of gas pumps in South Florida failed accuracy tests over the past three years. "The analysis found 580 of more than 2,500 stations in South Florida had at least one pump dispensing more gas than customers paid to purchase, while 477 provided less fuel than they should." A database of gas pump inspections is included online. There is also a map of those stations which failed 10 or more pump tests over three years.

A Blue Line train bounced off its track and derailed in a fire that sent 1,000 passengers running for their lives in July 2006. Jon Hilkevitch and Monique Garcia of the Chicago Tribune read thousands of pages of investigative files and transcribed interviews of Chicago Transit Authority workers after the accident. Their story describes the gross lack of management and oversight by the nation's second-largest transit system, including interviews with workers who say they wrote their concerns on the walls of the subway because their superiors did not want to hear about the hazardous conditions.