News highways

by Ralph Nader September 9, 2016 Fifty years ago this month (on September 9, 1966), President Lyndon…

The 50th anniversary of federal auto safety regulation approaches, but there’s not much to celebrate. Signing the…

Researchers find that the most effective interventions, such as use of sobriety checkpoints and ignition interlocks, are rarely used in industry-sponsored programs

The majority of the alcohol industry’s actions around the world to reduce drinking and driving either lack evidence of effectiveness or haven’t been studied, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

By Leah M. Nicholls
Staff Attorney

By AARON M. KESSLER and DANIELLE IVORY

JUNE 9, 2015

A Texas federal judge handed down a $663 million judgment Tuesday against Trinity Industries, the guardrail maker accused of producing a faulty product that can jam and spear through vehicles.

The judgment stems from the trial held last year in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Josh Harman, a competitor who discovered in 2011 that Trinity had made a critical change to the dimensions of its ET-Plus guardrail in 2005, but failed to tell federal regulators as required by law.

4/21/15

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the use of a highway guardrail system linked to at least eight deaths, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling a new wave of potential woes for manufacturer Trinity Industries Inc.

12/17/14

When it comes to highway safety, cover-ups and delaying tactics aren’t a good idea. Full disclosure is usually a much better option. Consider the history: Ford stonewalled on its exploding Pintos, and that ended up costing the company far more than if it had just quickly admitted there was a problem. General Motors dragged its feet on defective ignition switches, and Toyota fought off any suggestion that its cars unintentionally accelerated. In both cases, a quick mea culpa would have worked better.

12/11/14

Virginia is suing the guardrail maker Trinity Industries, saying that it sold the state thousands of pieces of potentially dangerous, improperly tested and unapproved products.

The suit makes Virginia the first governmental entity to participate in whistle-blower suits against Trinity, which is based in Dallas. The suits were brought on behalf of state and federal governments, but none of those entities, until now, have been plaintiffs.