NTSB Video Celebrates Fifty Years of Safety Advances

Transportation safety improvements spurred by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recommendations are highlighted in a video released on Monday as part of the NTSB’s ongoing commemoration of its 50th anniversary.

The NTSB was created April 1, 1967, as part of the newly created Department of Transportation. In 1975 the NTSB became an independent federal agency, and remains so today.
 
The NTSB has been responsible for transformational transport safety improvements and has investigated thousands of accidents, making over 14,500 recommendations to improve transportation safety. More than 80 percent of these accident-prevention recommendations have been acted upon favorably, saving countless lives.

Charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation - railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline - the NTSB determines the probable cause of those accidents and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. 

On average the NTSB investigates 1,600 aviation accidents and incidents, 22 highway crashes, nine rail accidents, three pipeline or hazardous materials accidents and 30 maritime accidents each year, and issues more than 280 safety recommendations.