Safari 5.0.1 - VoiceOver crash

After updating Safari I've been having a lot of problems with VO while browsing the web. One of the issues that really sticks out like a sore thumb (and makes any demos of VO almost embarrassing) is VO crashing and becoming unresponsive while browsing the web.

I first noticed this issue when browsing the www.apple.com (of all places on the web it had to happen on the Apple's website!). I clicked a link for the new Apple TV or an iPod, can't remember. When the page was loading VO announced "Safari busy". Then, it became silent and unresponsive. When I switched the focus to Finder (command+Tab) it suddenly announced "VoiceOver On". Went back to Safari and VO went silent again.

Thought it was some kind of a random thing and restarted VO and Safari. Same problem occurred moments later. Restarted the Mac, Turn on VO and Safari and the problem presented itself again. Went to all of the Macs in my house and sure enough the problem was 100% reproducible on all of them.

I even thought may be the shortcut for VO toggling got reassigned somehow but checking the Shortcuts showed it to be "command + F5".

After further troubleshooting and experimenting I can post the following observations:

1. Problem occurs when Safari is still loading the page. So right after you click a link and wait for it to load that's when it happens.

2. Chances of the problem occurring increase if you attempt to use VO navigation controls (tabbing, keys or TrackPad commander gestures) while the page is still loading.

3. …And this is kind of good news because reloading the page upon which VO had crashed fixes the problem. Most of the time that is. Sometimes it does nothing and at this point you have to force quit Safari.

I posted about this over at the Apple Discussion forums

Also emailed accessibility@apple.com