How America’s infrastructure went off the rails

I hate to ask the question, but are we physically safe in America right now? Safety is critical to public confidence, faith in government and the narrative of our nation.

Many politicians use fear and danger as a way of getting people agitated. I try to stick to the facts while acknowledging that politics often gets in the way of a disaster. Safety should be on everybody’s mind in 2023.

Train accidents in America are on the rise. The recent derailment of a train in East Palestine, Ohio, has focused attention on a critical mode of transportation at a time when the United States is investing historically large sums of money in infrastructure.

Multiple factors could have contributed to the disaster and could lead to more of them. Norfolk Southern, the company behind the Ohio chemical spill, reportedly challenged federal safety rules that could have led to unsafe practices. We don’t know yet, but it seems clear that major train companies have been cutting costs and downsizing their workforces to beat the competition from long-haul truckers. The weight and length of trains has grown to allow them to haul more goods. But if a long, heavy train de-rails, the impact can be exponentially greater than with lighter trains.

According to USA Today, “Efforts to reduce costs, including lobbying against costly regulation, increasing train lengths, reducing inspection times and making major cuts to the railroad workforce have made trains less safe which has increased the potential for accidents like the one in Ohio to become more common.”

Car accidents in America are on the rise. According to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, close to 10,000 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022 — an increase of about 7 percent from the same quarter the year before and the most first quarter crashes since 2002. The COVID-19 pandemic is blamed for some of the increases, which created enormous stress for everyone, including drivers. Being cooped up during illness often leads to a sense of freedom when on the roads.

Another growing factor is recklessness from increased drug and alcohol use. Technology, such as the use of mobile phones and apps while driving, likely causes more accidents.

Another cause of accidents is road rage. Multiple U.S. cities are reporting high levels of road rage, including Los Angeles, which is reporting its highest levels in seven years.

Air travel has been in the news a lot these days. We know about cancellations and near misses, but is it more dangerous to fly these days?  According to Flight Global, deadly airline accidents were reduced in 2022, but the fatalities climbed due to a few major crashes. Overall, however, U.S. airlines are improving their safety records.

As anyone who travels regularly can attest, a bigger challenge to airplane safety these days is unruly passengers. Over 2,300 “unruly passenger” incidents were reported last year to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), many of which triggered investigations. It was a seriously combat-worthy year for airlines.

Again, COVID bears some of the blame for bad behavior on flights. 2021 was the worst year, with nearly 6,000 incidents reports, three quarters of which were related to the wearing of masks.

America needs to attract tourists, international students and business to our country. And we need to provide basic safety for our citizens. This should not be a political issue but a principled stance going forward.

Tara D. Sonenshine is the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.