(2011 Bronx bus crash) Driver Fatigue and Speed Caused Fatal Bus Crash, Investigators Say
Source: NY Times
The bus crash in the Bronx last year that killed 15 passengers might have been avoided if the bus's sleep-deprived driver had not been barreling along at speeds as high as 78 miles per hour, the fastest it could go, federal investigators concluded on Tuesday.
At a hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators said the evidence they had gathered showed that the driver of the bus, Ophadell Williams, had been fatigued as he drove back from an overnight trip to a casino in Connecticut. He had received too little sleep in the days before the accident and no more than three hours of rest in the casino’s parking lot while his passengers were inside gambling, the investigators said.
“Together, fatigue and speed are an especially lethal combination,” Deborah A.P. Hersman, the chairwoman of the safety board, said during the hearing in Washington. “This deadly accident did not have to happen.”
Documents the board released last month showed that Mr. Williams, who regularly drove during overnight hours, had not been sleeping during the day before the crash as he told investigators. His cellphone records showed that he had been using his phone almost continuously when he was off duty, and data gathered from a rental car company revealed that he had been driving around between shifts.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/nyregion/fatal-bronx-bus-crash-caused-by-driver-fatigue-board-says.html
