Television New Zealand have captured some extraordinary, gut wrenching footage of a helicopter getting its rotor blades tangled in cables and crashing on Auckland's waterfront. The pilot has apparently walked away without serious injury.
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots on Nov 23, 2011 - 55 comments

How Fast Can China Go? On June 30, China had the first official run of a $32 billion high-speed train line between Shanghai and Beijing. "Faster (820 miles in 288 minutes) and sleeker than any other, the needle-nosed CRH380A symbolizes China’s accelerating pace, even as it faces questions about safety, and taps into an ancient rivalry with Japan." On page four, the article discusses what happened less than a month afterwards on July 23rd: the country's first accident involving a bullet train that killed 40 people near Wenzhou. As a result, 54 high speed trains were recalled, train speeds were reduced and an overhaul of the high-speed rail system was launched by Chinese authorities. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Sep 13, 2011 - 25 comments

Downhill Carnage (SLVimeo)
posted by KirkpatrickMac on Mar 21, 2011 - 34 comments

Malaysian cyclist Azizulhasni Awang is recovering in hospital after a 9-inch splinter went through his lower left leg after crashing his track bike at the cycling world cup in Manchester, England. But he still managed to finish the race in bronze medal position after remounting his bike and staggering over the finish line. [Linked pictures and video very very NSF the squeamish]. [more inside]
posted by KirkpatrickMac on Feb 20, 2011 - 23 comments

Crash tests. Exactly what it sounds like. Double-Link-YouTube-Filter.
posted by dersins on Jul 31, 2007 - 28 comments

"We tacitly agree to accept a certain level of carnage in order to use the highways in ways we value." [pdf, 750kB] Three particle physicists analyze data from crash tests and crash statistics, and show that pickup trucks pose a much greater risk to other drivers than any other type of vehicle, even SUVs. [pdf, 880kB] Also, I found some totally rad videos of airplane crash tests from nasa. Sweet!!
posted by sergeant sandwich on Jan 19, 2006 - 23 comments

When you're in Iraq and have a bit of free time on your hand there's really only one thing you can do. Shame it crashed the Ministry of Defense computers.
posted by movilla on May 20, 2005 - 31 comments

A dangerous intersection in Tampa... then, disaster strikes, on live TV. [note: Windows Media, high bandwidth, graphic]
posted by crunchland on Sep 17, 2004 - 55 comments