Democracy Dies in DarknessOpinionPredicting accidents rather than just responding to them could save thousands of lives.May 14, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. EDTToday at 7:00 a.m. EDTA lone flag placed on a stop sign in a residential neighborhood of Charlotte on November 3, 2024. (Logan Cyrus/For The Washington Post)By Andrew RogersAndrew Rogers, a former deputy Federal Highway Administrator, is the executive director of the Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety Coalition.When a commercial plane crashes, investigators don’t just ask what went wrong — they ask what the data showed in the hours and days before. Aviation’s safety culture is built around anticipating failure, not responding to it. The result: Flying is among the safest things an American can do.