Mike Slack Discusses NTSB Investigation into Deadly I-35 Pileup in Fort Worth

The fatal 133-vehicle crash that occurred on an icy stretch of I-35W is under investigation, with the National Transportation Safety Board focused primarily on the road conditions and whether proper de-icing measures were taken. Slack Davis Sanger Managing Partner Mike Slack talked with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the wealth of information the NTSB will be able to gather from “black boxes”  which are a feature of most modern vehicles.

Mike Slack,  an aviation attorney who has represented clients in many airplane crash cases investigated by the NTSB, said the information available for investigators in the Fort Worth crash could be “a treasure trove of data and analytic support for NTSB, all in a single event.”

For example, Slack said the so-called “black boxes” installed in most modern automobiles could provide NTSB with data on how fast cars were going, and whether their artificially intelligent safety features such as lane departure were engaged as they lost control on the ice. represented clients in many airplane crash cases investigated by the NTSB, said the information available for investigators in the Fort Worth crash could be “a treasure trove of data and analytic support for NTSB, all in a single event.”

The NTSB in recent years has stepped up its research into how artificial intelligence works and where its weak points are in automobiles. That work is expected to become even more important in the coming years, as self-driving automobiles become more prominent on the nation’s roads.

Whether NTSB can get its hands on all that good data is another matter.

Read the full interview by clicking here.