Commercial drivers and highway safety: too many tour bus accidents

On Behalf of | Apr 17, 2013 | Bus Accidents |

Truckers are of course not the only commercial drivers on the road. Bus drivers require commercial licenses as well. And they too often engage in behavior behind the wheel that causes serious or even fatal accidents.

Last week, there was a fatal bus accident near Dallas. A bus carrying passengers back from a trip to casino in Oklahoma crashed and rolled in a one-vehicle accident. Two people were killed. Numerous others were treated at local hospitals for injuries sustained in the crash.

More than 30 passengers were onboard the motor coach when it went off the road. The bus eventually collided with a concrete divider, overturned and rolled.

Texas is not the only state to experience tour bus crashes in recent months. Only a few days ago, a tour bus crash near Yosemite National Park injured 16 people. Last December, nine people were killed in Oregon when a charter bus went off a mountain road.

Two years ago, in the most high-profile bus accident in recent years, 15 people died in a bus crash in New York City. Like last week’s bus accident in Texas, the New York accident involved a tour bus returning from a casino.

An investigation showed that the driver in the New York bus accident had a problematic driving record. The loss of so many lives prompted various proposals to improve bus safety. These proposals included such things as requiring seat belts on buses and improving federal monitoring of bus driver safety records.

Significant changes, however, have not really occurred. And that is a significant concern for all who care about highway safety.

Source: “Driver in charter bus wreck also involved in fatal accident in 1998,” Dallas Morning News, Matthew Watkins, Ray Lescynski and Avi Shelk, 4-11-13