WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- The truck driver who drove into the back of a slow-moving party bus on Interstate 64 killing three people was fatigued and the company for which he drove "created fictitious driver accounts for its vehicles’ electronic logging device systems that allowed drivers to exceed federal hours-of-service regulations and drive while fatigued," the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found.
The December 2022 crash happened on Interstate 64 near Williamsburg.
"The bus was traveling at 20 to 25 miles per hour in the right lane, while the truck was traveling at 65 to 70 miles per hour with cruise control engaged," NTSB investigators wrote in their recently-released report. "The truck driver did not brake or take any evasive action as the truck approached the bus. The collision caused the roof and sidewalls of the bus to detach, exposing the occupants. The bus then rotated, crossed the lane, and breached the guardrail. As a result, three bus occupants died, nine occupants and the truck driver sustained serious injuries, and 11 bus occupants sustained minor injuries."
The victims were identified as 19-year-old Montia Bouie of Chesapeake, 25-year-old Xavier Raquan Evans of Norfolk and 21-year-old Johntae Kaalib Russel of Norfolk.
The NTSB determined the party bus's "significantly slower speed" also contributed to the severity of the crash.
While no criminal charges were filed in the crash, the NTSB issued some new recommendations and reiterated others:
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should strengthen electronic logging device requirements to prevent opportunities for the creation of fake driver accounts.
- The Commonwealth of Virginia should offer management safety guidance to new intrastate motor carrier licensees covering license class, drug and alcohol testing, fatigue management, vehicle maintenance, and safe commercial vehicle operation.
- Triton Logistics should implement a process to regularly verify the accuracy of drivers’ records of duty, implement a robust fatigue management program, and proactively use onboard inward- and forward-facing video event recording to improve driver training.
- The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance should use this crash to educate its members on the importance of safeguarding the electronic logging device system to prevent falsification of information.
Reiterated recommendations include:
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should complete the development and application of performance standards for the assessment of forward collision avoidance systems in commercial vehicles. NHTSA should also require that all buses and trucks over 10,000 pounds be equipped with onboard video recorders that record parametric data associated with an event.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should provide guidance to motor carriers on the use of onboard video recordings to ensure driver compliance with regulations and safe operations.
Click here to read the full report.
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