NTSBOfficial

Personally, no - but that's because I have a terrible sense of balance! If you're looking to, I'd suggest a training course, a helmet (even if it's not the law), the right clothing, and practicing good safety habits. We did a forum on motorcycle safety a few years ago, so check that out as well. -D

Talking just highway cases - the other modes can have different parameters - all our cases are also investigated by local law enforcement. It's two different but simultaneous investigations. Law enforcement is looking for violation of law, and we're looking for safety issues. Both look at many of the same things but from different perspectives. As to what we "launch" a go-team, in highway, we're looking for cases that may demonstrate a broader problem, or be applicable to the nation in general, or involve areas directly covered by federal rules. -D

I have not; the Board is grouped into transportation mode (highway, aviation, marine, rail, and pipeline) and I have not worked outside highway. As to timeline, a major investigation can take 12-16 month or more, depending on the issues. All aspects are examined in great detail - for example, a highway crash might look at the road from the first plans until the day of the crash; we'll track a truck from the day it rolled off the assembly line, and so on. Aircraft are treated similarly, and are VERY complex.

Self driving cars: as you say, they have great potential. As an agency, we're supportive of anything that can improve safety. We'd like to see a measured deployment that considers as many factors as possible, to avoid unintended consequences. We're examining cases as they occur; the Williston, FL case is a good one! -D

In my experience, far more are caused by human error than mechanical or other issues. In terms of hard numbers, NHTSA’s crash stats determined 94+% of crashes are caused by human error. -D

I do. When speed limits are set, one of the things they consider are the engineering factors - i.e. the design of the road and the performance of cars. That's not to say a case can't be made for re-assessing the speed from time to time. There's also an "upper limit" of sorts imposed by human capabilities - the faster you go, the further out you have to look and the less time you have to react. The NTSB has also done a speed study you should check out. -D