National Transportation Safety Board Research Articles

Smart Surveillance System for Controlling Pandemic Diseases in Airports

As a pandemic outbreak that threatens the world, this project focus to minimize the community spread of COVID-19 especially during travel. The fever is turns out as a first symptom and later it turns out to a severe respiratory disorder that would even leads to death. Fever can show the variation in the body temperature after 4 hours of being tested. Hence, the chance of fever symptoms accelerated during the long travel time. So close observation and continuous monitoring of person is requires during travel. Therefore, a system is suggested that to monitor the temperature of passenger periodically and it uses thermal imaging technique. For abnormal variations in the temperature an alert is send to pilot system and also Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by the smart IOT device. Smart Node MCU cloud system sends the alert message to the various aviation units. The thinkspeak is act as cloud storage & access of data for this applications. Social distancing is one criterion to avoid the spread of the virus but waiting area is the place where passengers wait for long time to be board to plane. People met other and cluster together with luggage’s in boarding zones. A proposed system reduces the risk of spreading to all the area by monitoring of passengers. Systems that calibrate the size of the waiting room and the person entering inside and leaving out is measure. With the factor of social distancing, the warning signal is trigger if a particular place is crowded with passenger.

The Impact of Human Factors and Maintenance Documentation on Aviation Safety: An Analysis of 15 Years of Accident Data Through the PEAR Framework

Regardless of the type of maintenance performed on aircraft, instructions are to be used to provide the aviation technicians completing the maintenance activities with guidance on, and an outline of, the maintenance items to be performed and completed. However, the use of instructions does not guarantee the correct and proper completion of the maintenance activities as the instructions may be erroneous and/or maintenance personnel can misunderstand, misinterpret, or improperly follow the procedures outlined. Resulting maintenance errors can potentially result in aircraft accidents, as illustrated by Air Midwest Flight 5481. With the purpose of understanding how human factors associated with maintenance instructions have contributed to aircraft accidents, the researchers qualitatively analyzed, using the people (P), environment (E), actions (A), resources (R) – PEAR – framework, 12 aircraft accidents that occurred from 01/01/2003 through 12/31/2017 under Part 121 or Part 135 operations in the United States that had maintenance instruction-related errors as contributing or causal factors. The detailed accident information, including causal factors, were retrieved from the aircraft accident reports provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The findings indicated that maintenance activities, specifically in terms of the adequacy and proper use of maintenance instructions, are largely impacted by human factor elements, such as the overall organizational environment and the resources available.

Human error in marine accidents: Is the crew normally to blame?

This paper analyses the marine accident reports published by the USA National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) between June 1975 and September 2017, in order to ascertain the exact influence of the crew and/or other people involved (pilots, company, etc.) on the cause of the incident and to find out the types of errors made by them. Additionally, the mistakes and those involved are analysed together to verify the correct implementation of international regulations concerning seafarers. The results suggest that crew error is relatively uncommon in cargo and passenger fleets. This points to the effectiveness of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW convention). However, taking into consideration the high percentage of human error due to failure in communication and misjudgements during navigation in pilot waters, it may be deduced that the coordination among those on the bridge may be improved. On the other hand, crew error on board tugs exceeds 50%. This increase seems to be due to the difficulties of navigation in narrow waterways.

Bayesian network modeling of accident investigation reports for aviation safety assessment

Safety assurance is of paramount importance in the air transportation system. In this paper, we analyze the historical passenger airline accidents that happened from 1982 to 2006 as reported in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) aviation accident database. A four-step procedure is formulated to construct a Bayesian network to capture the causal relationships embedded in the sequences of these accidents. First of all, with respect to each accident, a graphical representation is developed to facilitate the visualization of the escalation of initiating events into aviation accidents in the system. Next, we develop a Bayesian network representation of all the accidents by aggregating the accident-wise graphical representations together, where the causal and dependent relationships among a wide variety of contributory factors and outcomes in terms of aircraft damage and personnel injury are captured. In the Bayesian network, the prior probabilities are estimated based on the accident occurrence times and the aircraft departure data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). To estimate the conditional probabilities in the Bayesian network, we develop a monotonically increasing function, whose parameters are calibrated using the probability information on single events in the available data. Finally, we develop a computer program to automate the generation of the Bayesian network in compliance with the XML format used in the commercial GeNIe modeler. The constructed Bayesian network is then fed into GeNIe modeler for accident analysis. The mapping of the NTSB data to a Bayesian network facilitates both forward propagation and backward inference in probabilistic analysis, thereby supporting accident investigations and risk analysis. Several accident cases are used to demonstrate the developed approach.

HFACS Analysis of U.S. General Aviation Accidents Using Bayesian Network

Safety is one of the most important factors that affects the sustainable development of the aviation industry. With the increasing robustness of technologies, humans have played a progressively more important causal role in aviation accidents. This paper applies an HFACS-BN model (HFACS: Human Factors Analysis and Classification System; BN: Bayesian Network) to analyze the root causes of aviation accidents. General aviation (GA) accident reports were collected from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database. The authors encoded the human factors of sample cases based on the HFACS framework and constructed a corresponding BN. From this work, parameter estimation associated with a conditional probability table (CPT) was conducted to determine prior probabilities of contributing factors, and a sensitivity test was conducted to determine the most significant factors. This study provides guidance to the federal government to facilitate risk management in order to reduce fatal general aviation accidents.

Inferring the Presence of Freezing Drizzle Using Archived Data from the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)

AbstractIn its current form, the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) provides automated precipitation type reports of rain, snow, and freezing rain. Unknown precipitation can also be reported when the system recognizes precipitation is occurring but cannot classify it. A new method has been developed that can reprocess the raw ASOS 1-min-observation (OMO) data to infer the presence of freezing drizzle. This freezing drizzle derivation algorithm (FDDA) was designed to identify past freezing drizzle events that could be used for aviation product development and evaluation (e.g., Doppler radar hydrometeor classification algorithms, and improved numerical modeling methods) and impact studies that utilize archived datasets [e.g., National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigations of transportation accidents in which freezing drizzle may have played a role]. Ten years of archived OMO data (2005–14) from all ASOS sites across the conterminous United States were reprocessed using the FDDA. Aviation routine weather reports (METARs) from human-augmented ASOS observations were used to evaluate and quantify the FDDA’s ability to infer freezing drizzle conditions. Advantages and drawbacks to the method are discussed. This method is not intended to be used as a real-time situational awareness tool for detecting freezing drizzle conditions at the ASOS but rather to determine periods for which freezing drizzle may have impacted transportation, with an emphasis on aviation, and to highlight the need for improved observations from the ASOS.

General Aviation Weather Hazards:Current Human Factors Research, Pilot Practices, and Tools

When General Aviation (GA) pilots encounter unexpected weather hazards in-flight, the results are typically deadly. It is unsurprising that the National Transportation Safety Board repeatedly lists weather related factors in GA flight operations as an unsolved aviation safety challenge. Solving this problem requires multidisciplinary perspectives. Fortunately, in the past several years innovative laboratory research and industry products have become available. This panel discussion brings together Human Factors and Ergonomics researchers and practitioners to discuss and describe the current work and future directions to avoid weather related accidents in GA.

Narrative Analysis of Runway Incursion Reports in the National Transportation Safety Board Database To Identify Contributing

A runway incursion occurs when an aircraft, ground vehicle, or a pedestrian is incorrectly present on the runway. This incorrect presence can lead to a collision resulting in fatal injuries and aircraft damage. Despite the aviation community’s measures to reduce incursions, they continue increasing. Most runway incursions are a result of human error. Our limited knowledge of these human errors and their causes is hindering our ability to reduce runway incursions. While previous researchers have analyzed past runway incursions to identify types of human error, we still know little about the causes of these errors. The narratives in the NTSB database often provide detailed information to identify human errors and their causes. In this paper, we analyze the narratives of runway incursion reports in the NTSB database. We use task analysis to map human error to tasks they perform, and map the causes of these errors to the error itself.

An Investigation of an Oil Barge Explosion in Corpus Christi, TX

On October 20, 2017, an articulated tug and barge carrying crude oil were preparing to get under way from anchorage when an explosion and subsequent fire occurred on the bow of the barge, killing the two crew. The National Transportation Safety Board and US Coast Guard conducted an official federal investigation. The explosion was found to have originated from an accumulation of gasses into empty compartment space that had leaked through a bulkhead from the adjacent crude oil cargo tank. The investigation found through-cracks and perforations stemming from corrosion in the bulkhead separating the compartments. This article highlights the findings and conclusions of the accident investigation while providing recommendations to prevent future accidents and to improve the safety of vessels shipping hazardous material.

Helicopter Pilots Encountering Fog: An Analysis of 109 Accidents from 1992 to 2016

Helicopters have the ability to make maneuvers or precautionary off-airport landings to avoid flights into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) such as fog. Flight accidents in which fog was encountered as well as inadvertent and intentional flights into fog were examined to understand their occurrence. A 25-year period in the United States using the National Transportation Safety Board online database was used to collect 109 accident reports of which 73 (67%) were fatal. Pilots flying intentionally into IMC were more likely to be a part of a fatal accident than those who did so inadvertently. Those pilots who were reported as being under pressure when encountering fog conditions were also more likely to be in an accident. The findings confirm a high prevalence and an added danger to intentional flights into IMC. In addition, decision-making under pressure when encountering IMC conditions is now linked to a higher proportion of fatalities, emphasizing that helicopter pilots should be made aware of these specific decision-making circumstances in their operations.

Helicopter Cockpit Audio Data Analysis to Infer Flight State Information

In recent years, the National Transportation Safety Board has highlighted the importance of analyzing flight data as one of the effective methods to improve the safety and efficiency of helicopter operations. Since cockpit audio data contain various sounds from engines, alarms, crew conversations, and other sources within a cockpit, analyzing cockpit audio data can help identify the causes of incidents and accidents. Among the various types of the sounds in cockpit audio data, this paper focuses on cockpit alarm and engine sounds as an object of analysis. This paper proposes cockpit audio analysis algorithms, which can detect types and occurrence times of alarm sounds for an abnormal flight and estimate engine-related flight parameters such as an engine torque. This is achieved by the following: for alarm sound analysis, finding the highest correlation with the short time Fourier transform, and the Cumulative Sum Control Chart (CUSUM) using a database of the characteristic features of the alarm; and for engine sound analysis, using data mining and statistical modeling techniques to identify specific frequencies associated with engine operations. The proposed algorithm is successfully applied to a set of simulated audio data, which were generated by the X-plane flight simulator, and real audio data, which were recorded by GoPro cameras in Sikorsky S-76 helicopters to demonstrate its desired performance.

A comparative statistical analysis of global trends in civil helicopter accidents in the U.S., the EU, and the CIS

With helicopter operations increasing worldwide for varying usage and purposes, it is important to identify changes in helicopter accident trends. This paper studies the trends in civilian helicopter accidents in the United States, the European Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and evaluates helicopter flight safety. Comparative analysis was performed, focusing on statistics and accident reports from Federal Aviation Administration, International Helicopter Safety Foundation, United States Helicopter Safety Team, National Transportation Safety Board, European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and Interstate Aviation Committee. The overall helicopter accident trends by flight time, engine type, and phase of flight were considered. The differences among the groups were identified, and the flight safety of helicopter was compared with that of other types of aircraft. In conclusion, gas-turbine engine helicopters showed a significant increase in the number of accidents. Regarding phase of flight, takeoff, landing, maneuvering, and en-route reported the most number of accidents. This study emphasizes the need for more profound research on improving helicopter flight safety by analyzing the global trend of helicopter accidents.

Lemos confirmed as US Chemical Safety Board chair

The US Senate on March 23 confirmed Katherine Lemos to lead the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. This brings the board, which investigates chemical-related industrial accidents, to two members, three short of the five required by law. Lemos comes to the CSB from Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Lemos has experience as a regulator at the Federal Aviation Administration and an accident investigator at the National Transportation Safety Board. She holds a doctorate in social psychology. “Dr. Lemos brings years of safety expertise and leadership to her new position,” says CSB member Kristen Kulinowski, who has led the board on an interim basis since mid-2018. Kulinowski’s term expires later this year, at which point the board will be back to one member—Lemos—unless President Donald J. Trump nominates and the Senate confirms additional people. Trump has tried three times to eliminate funding for the board, though Congress has not gone

757 Mass Casualty Planning, When an Airplane Strikes a Building

Abstract Introduction This paper focuses on the risks associated with the rapid development of aviation as well as the rapid growth of high-rise or large capacity buildings. The aim of the work is to further evaluate the incidence of building strikes involving aircraft. With this scenario, a burn injury is the most common for survivors. This paper will examine the nature and frequency of these events. Knowing the risks can aid the planning effort for all involved with a role in the response to a mass casualty incident. Methods The researchers reviewed historical records involving airplane crashes into large occupied buildings. This review included databases searched such as PubMed as well as commonly used search engines; Google and Bing. Inclusion criteria for buildings included those either considered mid-rise or high-rise (typically considered taller than 33 meters [108 feet]) or a large footprint (defined as 5000 square meters [54820 square feet]). Furthermore, the buildings had to be occupied. The airplanes included civilian (commercial) and military aircraft. The literature reviewed included historical accounts and historical references from a variety of news archival services that were chronicled in articles published and indexed in the PubMed search engine or found in common historical databases. The search also included the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports. Results Once the descriptive data were collected, the information was analyzed for similarities and trended where applicable. A total of 19 of the aircraft impacts were analyzed for this work. While death tolls were included in the results collected, the work aimed to identify the number of injured patients, and where possible, further identify those with burn injuries. All of the crashes also included the distance to the closest metro area (typically where a burn center was or should be located.) It should be noted that all of the buildings impacted were located within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of an airport with many of them occurring on or adjacent to airport property. Conclusions It is reasonable to presume that commercial or military aircraft that impact large occupied buildings such as a commercial complex, high-rise housing or an office building will produce disastrous consequences. This scenario includes significant casualties and loss of life. Findings from this research can offer insights from actual occurrences to disaster planners and emergency managers. Applicability of Research to Practice Mass casualty planning for burn centers should include the potential impact by aircraft and either large or high rise buildings. The size of the incident could be significant and the potential for the occurrence should not be overlooked.

The effect of management practices on aircraft incidents

Many models have been put forward in order to examine the human factors in aircraft accidents and incidents. Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) which is the most widely used in literature is one of these models. HFACS is based on Reason's Swiss Cheese Model. The biggest disadvantage of the Reason's model is its post-accident applicability. Mostly HFACS aviation applications are usually based on accident data. This is a reagent (result-focused) approach. In this study, however, HFACS which is an improved version of Reason's model, was applied to aircraft incidents that did not result in an accident. This is a proactive approach. Thus, with this approach, the biggest disadvantage of Reason's model is turned into an advantage. In addition, a realistic application of this approach has been demonstrated in this study, focusing on aircraft incidents that took place between 2000 and 2018. The year 2000 forms a milestone in the manufacture of more technically advanced aircraft models which significantly reduced occurrence of technical errors in aircrafts, hence the choice of 2000 as base year. A total of 328 aircraft incident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database were studied and among these reports cockpit crew related incidents were analyzed using HFACS. As a result of the analyzes, the root causes of incidents have been identified. In addition, unlike traditional HFACS analysis, the relationship between errors occurred at management levels of HFACS and the unsafe acts of the cockpit crew in aircraft incidents was statistically revealed.

A QUANTITATIVE TEST OF THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF HEINRICH’S ACCIDENT PYRAMID

Herbert W. Heinrich, a pioneer researcher in the field of occupational safety, published a book on occupational accidents in 1931. In the publication, Heinrich presented an Accident Pyramid, which affirmed that one workplace fatality would occur after 300 no-injury accidents have been recorded in a workplace. Heinrich’s Accident Pyramid has since been adopted as a standard for predicting the likelihood that fatalities will occur. Moreover, Heinrich’s claim on occupational accidents was adopted as a standard because of his reputation as a pioneer of occupational safety research. This study seeks to test the statistical hypothesis put forward by Heinrich in reference to General Aviation (GA) accidents and does so with a random subsample of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data. Retrospective data published for public use by NTSB was collected from 2004 to 2013 for 15,119 GA accidents (with a mean fatal accident count of ≈ 282). The pyramid was initially recommended for use in predicting all forms of accidents, including GA accidents. Notwithstanding, the analysis of an independent variable x, the number of total accidents, and a dependent variable y, the number of fatalities, produced a p-value of approximately 0.821, which indicates no correlation between the variables. There was no statistically significant relationship found between the total number of accidents and fatal accidents, as asserted by Heinrich. This study, therefore, demonstrates that Heinrich’s Accident Pyramid is statistically invalid. Consequently, this means that a fatality may still occur even if the total number of accidents is reduced.

Social Acceptance of Increased Usage of the Ballistic Parachute System in a General Aviation Aircraft.

BACKGROUND: An airframe parachute ("Chute") available in certain aircraft is designed to lower the airplane safely to the ground for emergency situations that occur 500 ft (152 m) above ground level (AGL): the "Chute altitude envelope." This study will explore the change in Chute use before and after 2012 to better understand factors that increased usage and improved accident outcomes.METHODS: Using the public National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database from January 1, 2001, through August 31, 2018, a regression model was developed to identify factors that may predict Chute use.RESULTS: In accidents occurring after January 1, 2013, pilots were 5 times more likely to use the Chute, while 2.9 times less likely to use the Chute when the accident involved pilot-related causes. The presence of passengers did not predict Chute use. Injuries were likely to be more severe when the Chute was used outside the Chute altitude envelope.DISCUSSION: In contrast to General Aviation (GA) overall, accidents outcomes in aircraft equipped with a Chute have seen great improvements between 2013 and 2018, with increased use of the Chute and improved injury outcomes. Results suggest that changes to pilot training in 2012 have increased the social acceptance of Chute use. Results highlight increased risk of injury outcomes for Chute use in accidents that occur outside the Chute altitude envelope.Kirby J. Social acceptance of increased usage of the ballistic parachute system in a general aviation aircraft. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(2):86-90.

Further Improving General Aviation Flight Safety: Analysis of Aircraft Accidents During Takeoff

Data from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reveal that general aviation (GA) accounted for 76% of total air transport related accidents and incidents in the U.S. between 2014 and 2019. The identification of causes is one of the most important tasks in aircraft accident investigation and a critical strategy for proactive aircraft accident prevention. Aircraft and flight crew perform differently in each phase of flight given the changes of aircraft configuration, flight operation environment and flight crew workload, therefore, the causes of aircraft accident may vary by phase of flight. Most accidents occur in the phases of final approach and landing have been investigated by many researchers from various perspectives. Few studies, however, have been published on flight safety for the phase of takeoff, which has the second-highest number of GA aircraft accidents and incidents. A good understanding of the causes of GA aircraft accidents during takeoff is crucial to develop more effective countermeasures for aircraft takeoff risk mitigation and accident prevention. The objective of this study is to understand the causes of GA aircraft takeoff accidents by analyzing aircraft accident investigation reports published by the NTSB. To better understand the causes of GA aircraft takeoff accidents, the following research design has been implemented. First, comparative analysis was applied to depict the statistical features of GA takeoff accidents compared to other air transport categories. Temporal change of GA takeoff accidents was analyzed using a linear-by-linear association test. Secondly, primary accident causes were identified by analyzing the NTSB investigation reports. Text mining techniques were applied to further explore contributing factors associated with the identified causes to enrich discovered knowledge. Finally, logistic regression analysis was applied to explore risk factors for fatal GA aircraft takeoff accidents. Lists of key causal and contributing factors were revealed and discussed from the analytical results. The identification of causal factors, contributing factors and risk factors for GA aircraft takeoff accidents are expected to be a valuable supplement to existing knowledge for aircraft accident prevention.

An Analysis of Self-Reported Sleepiness and Fatigue Measures from Collegiate Aviation Pilots

Fatigue can be deleterious to pilot performance. The National Transportation Safety Board has called on the aviation community to reduce fatigue related accidents. Currently, there are few studies and guidance specific to collegiate aviation pilots. The current study is part of a larger effort by the authors to gain a clearer understanding of fatigue within the collegiate aviation environment. Collegiate aviation pilots are a unique group with different schedules, lifestyles, and demands when compared to airline, military, and on-demand pilots. The purpose of this study was to examine self-reported fatigue and sleepiness measures. Research instruments included the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and the Samn-Perelli Fatigue Scale. The research team recruited thirty-two collegiate aviation pilots from a large Midwestern university. Participants were asked to record their sleepiness and fatigue ratings four times a day, at intervals, for a total of four weeks over four months. Approximately 5,000 total data points were collected. Results indicated a significant difference between the times of day. The 8:00 a.m. recording time had the highest median fatigue and sleepiness score. There were no significant differences between the days of the week. However, overall median fatigue and sleepiness scores indicated participants were slightly fatigued and sleepy throughout the data collection period.

Thinking Like a Crosswalk

Thinking Like a Crosswalk Gretchen E. Henderson (bio) We use them every day. Across intersections, white stripes stitch together seams of foot traffic. The ubiquitous stripes signal pedestrian paths that network our built environments. Often called "crosswalks," these pedestrian crossings have evolved over the years to curiously accrue animal names like zebra crossings, panda crossings, pelican crossings, toucan crossings, and puffin crossings. To get to the other side, it's hard not to think of the joke about the chicken. To get to the other side, safe and sound, isn't as easy as it seems. In recent months, it has been reported that pedestrian deaths in some cities are at a thirty-three–year high. The numbers are up from 2016 (the year I was hit by a car in a crosswalk) when it was estimated that every day one hundred people in the United States died from traffic accidents. Deborah Hersman, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and now president and CEO of the National Safety Council, describes this as the equivalent of two regional jets crashing each day, or fourteen plane crashes each week. "If we had 14 plane crashes a week, our hair would be on fire and no one would set foot on an airplane," Hersman stated. "Why do we accept the fatalities that occur on our roadways?" The National Safety Council estimates that traffic accidents in the US last year killed around forty thousand people. While not all of the fatalities were pedestrians in crosswalks, that statistic doesn't include those who survived with serious injuries (including myself) that greatly increase the numbers: upward of 2.5 million. There's something unnerving about our seeming comfort with these odds. Statistics can leave us bleary from abstraction, so to estimate another way: we're far less likely to be struck by lightning than hit by a car. The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are one out of 136,111, according to Edward Humes in Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation. In contrast, the odds of dying in a car crash are one to 112. Recall the last time you jumped out of the way of a speeding vehicle or witnessed a collision or its aftermath. If you haven't been hit, you probably know someone who has been—a relative or friend of a friend [End Page 67] (likely less than two degrees of separation). For a nation hooked on cars, with international conflicts over fuel for gas-guzzling vehicles, we have developed a codependent relationship that makes allowances for these "accidents." The convenience and speed seem to outweigh the risks, as personal transportation choices tend to favor vehicles more powerful than we need, often carrying a single person with underutilized cargo space. "A death every fifteen minutes," concludes Humes, "is part of the price tag for that convenience, size, and speed." Even as cars get safer, many humans behind the wheel still do not recognize risks associated with speed, alcohol, or distraction from technology. As we welcome the convenience, it's easy to overlook the threat—that is, until you are blindsided by a vehicle that comes from behind you in a crosswalk, hitting your side, flipping your body up its hood and then down on pavement, where your head gashes and bleeds. A human body of 125 pounds (as I am) is no match for a steel machine weighing two tons. If you are lucky enough to not have your spine broken, other injuries may take months or years to heal, leaving an indelible impression on your body and brain. The risks increase along demographic lines. People sixty-five years or older and people of color are more vulnerable to being killed by cars while walking. This disparity is especially stark in places like North Dakota, where Native Americans account for 5 percent of the population and nearly 38 percent of pedestrian deaths. Inequities manifest in other ways. When fear of the Ebola virus raged in the United States in 2014, two people died from the virus, compared with the estimated twelve thousand people killed by drunk drivers that year. The fear of...