Women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in a head-on car crash compared with men in the same crash. Female drivers and front-seat passengers are 17% more likely to be killed in a car crash than a male occupant of the same age, according to multiple studies conducted over the last five years.
Chris O’Conner, president and CEO of Humanetics, one of the world’s leading producers of crash test dummies, said that’s for a relatively simple and chilling reason: Cars are not designed to be safe for women.
“If you look back in history, the crash test dummy was designed around a male, and that male became the baseline,” O’Conner said, adding that vehicles are being designed “around a male.”
Republican Sen. Deb Fischer’s "She DRIVES Act" would raise the standards for car safety testing, promoting the use of "crash test dummies that reflect a woman’s lighter frame."
img: ID 968714 © Michelle Marsan | Dreamstime.com
Titan sub firm used 'intimidation tactics' and 'critically flawed' safety practices, Coast Guard report finds
A damning report published by the US Coast Guard on 5th August 2025 looked at what went wrong in June 2023, when the Titan submersible took five people on an expedition to see the Titanic shipwreck - but the sub imploded, killing all on board.
The implosion of the vessel was caused by the loss of structural integrity of its carbon fibre hull, exposing passengers to "approximately 4,930 pounds per square inch of water pressure", the report found. They died instantaneously.
The tragedy was "preventable", it said.
Investigators found “critically flawed” safety practices at the sub's owner OceanGate Expeditions, and said it used "intimidation tactics" for several years before the disaster to avoid scrutiny.
Much of the blame goes to the Chief Executive Stockton Rush, the US Coast Guard said. He was on board and also died in the disaster. The report found he "exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals".
The company failed to follow safety protocols. It was under financial pressure and had a "toxic workplace environment", using the firing of senior staff and the "looming threat" of being fired to dissuade employees and contractors from expressing safety concerns, the report found.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdjxp4n2371t
img: Public Domain
Current principles around the use of evidence generated by computer software in criminal proceedings were established over two decades ago, with the common law presumption that a computer was operating correctly unless there is evidence to the contrary. In simple terms, ‘the computer is always right’, unless someone can show it is not.
The limitations of this presumption have been highlighted starkly by the Post Office Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted. These convictions were based on evidence which we now know to have been false, due to faults in the Horizon accounting software system, clearly demonstrating the fallibility of evidence produced by software.
Over the twenty-five years since the presumption was last looked at the use of computers and software has evolved beyond all recognition and the Government believes the time is right to re-examine this important area, to ensure it is fit for purpose. The government is now welcoming the views of all those with an interest in this area of criminal procedure, to provide insights to help ensure the criminal justice system is fair and effective, both now, and for years to come.
img: ID 81761866 © Msalena | Dreamstime.com
A helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York on 10th April 2025, killing all six people onboard, including the pilot and a family of Spanish tourists with three children. The sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront shortly after 3pm, leading to a huge response from emergency crews.
Witness Bruce Wall told the Associated Press he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/helicopter-crash-new-york
img: public domain (Mackenzie Logie, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
All 80 people on board a plane which crashed and overturned while landing in Toronto have survived, officials said.
The Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis skidded along the runway with flames visible and it came to a halt upside down as firefighters came to the rescue. Survivors said they were suspended upside down in their seats and had to release themselves, dropping on to the ceiling before clambering out on to the snow-covered tarmac. Eighteen people were injured but only a small number are thought to be seriously hurt, and investigators are looking into what caused the crash. There were 76 passengers and four crew on board the 16-year-old CRJ900 aircraft, made by Canada's Bombardier company.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20g02djlv7o
img: YYZBrennan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons