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DOT Response to the Most Wanted List

About This Requirement

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent Federal agency 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 each accident investigated and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. 

The NTSB uses a “Most Wanted List” (MWL) to articulate the independent safety agency’s advocacy priorities. In December 2020, NTSB announced it was transitioning from a biennial to a triennial release of its Most Wanted List. Accordingly, the current NTSB MWL, released in 2021, is extended to 2023. Pursuant to 49 United States Code § 1135(e) – Secretary of Transportation’s Responses to Safety Recommendations, the Secretary is required to prepare a report to Congress and the NTSB containing the regulatory status of each recommendation made by the NTSB to the Secretary (or to an Administration within the Department of Transportation) on the NTSB’s MWL. 

2021-2023 NTSB Most Wanted List

The latest 2021-2023 MWL includes the following safety issue areas: 

  1. Require and Verify the Effectiveness of Safety Management Systems in all Revenue Passenger-Carrying Aviation Operations 
  2. Install Crash-Resistant Recorders and Establish Flight Data Monitoring Programs 
  3. Implement a Comprehensive Strategy to Eliminate Speeding-Related Crashes 
  4. Protect Vulnerable Road Users through a Safe System Approach 
  5. Prevent Alcohol- and Other Drug-Impaired Driving 
  6. Require Collision-Avoidance and Connected-Vehicle Technologies on all Vehicles 
  7. Eliminate Distracted Driving 
  8. Improve Passenger and Fishing Vessel Safety 
  9. Improve Pipeline Leak Detection and Mitigation 
  10. Improve Rail Worker Safety 

Per the statutory requirements, the Office of Under Secretary for Policy coordinated the Department’s response and prepared a report highlighting recent DOT actions that pertained to the 2021 MWL. 

View that DOT response to the NTSB’s Most Wanted List: January 2022 Report