News

August 4, 2004
NTSB Says 86 Year-Old California Driver At Fault in 2003 Crash, Push for Black Boxes

USA Today

NTSB Says 86 Year-Old California Driver At Fault in 2003 Crash, Push for
Black Boxes USA TODAY - Aug 4, 09:39 AM 2004

Federal investigators concluded Tuesday that an 86-year-old California driver stepped on the gas instead of the brake in a crash last year that killed 10 pedestrians and injured 63 others at a farmers market in Santa Monica.

But the National Transportation Safety Board also said the crash might have been less severe if the city of Santa Monica had used removable concrete posts to close the street rather than wooden sawhorses.

The accident, on July 16, 2003, made national headlines. George Weller, driving a 1992 Buick, careened down nearly three blocks of a street closed to traffic.

Weller's license was revoked, and he was charged with 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter and gross negligence. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 18 years in prison. His next court date is Oct. 12.

Though the cause of the crash was ''unintended acceleration,'' the NTSB, meeting in Washington, said it had hoped to use the case to take up issues involving elderly drivers.

The board also recommended that the government require ''black boxes'' as standard equipment on cars. The devices, called Event Data Recorders, can help officials reconstruct details of an accident by providing second-by-second analysis of such factors as braking, turning and accelerating.

The NTSB said its investigation was hampered because the California Highway Patrol refused to allow further testing of Weller's blood for non-prescription drugs or to make him available for an interview shortly after the accident. If the car had been equipped with the device, the board could have been less dependent on the police, who were conducting a criminal investigation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun the process of writing standards for automakers to install Event Data Recorders and expects them to be available as optional equipment on cars by 2007.