Federal safety investigators cite high speed, driver fatigue in Utah bus crash that killed 9

NTSB: Bus that crashed killing 9 was speeding

WASHINGTON — Safety investigators said Tuesday that a bus was traveling 88 to 92 miles per hour when it crashed last year in Utah, killing nine and injuring 43 others. Driver fatigue was likely the root cause of the crash, they said.

Members of the National Transportation Safety Board also said they may cite another federal agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as a contributor to the severity of the accident because NHTSA has failed to implement safety recommendations the board made a decade ago.

“I am extremely disappointed watching NHTSA crawl toward the standard we have asked them to make,” said acting board chairman Mark Rosenker.

Investigators told the board that the bus driver, Welland Lotan, who was 71 at the time, suffered from sleep apnea and had trouble using a device to regulate his breathing while sleeping in the days before the accident.

Lotan also reported having head congestion, which was probably the result of altitude sickness or a cold and which likely interfered with his sleep, investigators said.

“It’s really tragic — tragic in loss of life, tragic in the injuries people suffered and tragic because, in my judgment, this accident was preventable,” board member Kitty Higgins said.

The motorcoach was carrying 52 passengers returning to Phoenix from a ski vacation in Telluride, Colo., on Jan. 6, 2008 when it rounded a bend on a remote two-lane highway near the town of Mexican Hat, careened off the side of the road and rolled down an embankment.

Investigators said it is likely the driver’s fatigue caused him to misjudge the bus’ speed and slowed his responses. The speed limit on that stretch of highway was 65 mph.

The bus was part of a charter of 17 motorcoaches carrying 800 people. Lotan had risen at 6:45 a.m. MST that morning and told passengers and others that he was fatigued and had been feeling sick for three days, investigators said. He began working since 10 a.m., when he attended a drivers’ meeting and then helped put chains on tires and refuel buses, they said.

When the accident was reported at 8:02 p.m., Lotan had been driving nearly five hours. Federal regulators limit commercial drivers to a maximum 15 hours on duty and 10 hours actual driving.

Investigators were able to determine the speed using video from cameras installed on the bus. Audio equipment on the bus also recorded a passenger yelling “slow down” to the driver.

The roof of the motorcoach was sheared off in the accident and everyone was thrown out except Lotan, who was wearing the bus’ only seatbelt, and one passenger, who was pinned between seats.

The board recommended in 1999 that safety standards for motorcoach roofs be strengthened, that buses have easy to open windows, and that steps be taken — including possibly requiring seatbelts — to prevent passengers from being ejected.

While NHTSA has made considerable progress on auto safety, it has “left motorcoaches back in the ’60s and ’70s,” Rosenker said. “It’s time now. It’s not like the technology doesn’t exist.”

Teresa and Maurice Washington of Peoria, Ariz., who were sitting in the last row of bus, lost their 12-year-old son in the accident. The couple were also seriously injured.

“I’m still kicking myself for getting on a bus with no seatbelts,” said Maurice Washington, 45, who attended Tuesday’s hearing with his wife.

Legislation to toughen motorcoach safety standards — including a requirement for seatbelts — died in Congress last year, but another bill has been introduced this year.

Board member Debbie Hersman said the bus crash was the third accident the board has reviewed in the past year in which the operator suffered from sleep apnea. She said the others were a marine and an aviation accident.

The crash scenario laid out by investigators show circumstances combined to worsen the accident. Heavy snow forced the closure of a high mountain pass, requiring the motorcoaches to take a longer route back to Phoenix through a very remote area of Utah. In the darkness and poor weather, and perhaps due to fatigue, Lotan took a wrong turn and was on a road that wasn’t part of the intended route when the accident happened, they said.

The accident also took place in area where cell phone coverage was spotty. The first person to report the accident was a passerby who drove eight miles to Mexican Hat to call 911 on a landline phone. Poor weather prevented medevac helicopters from responding to the accident and it was an hour after the accident before the first emergency crew arrived. The nearest hospital with a trauma unit, where the most seriously injured passengers were taken, was about 190 miles away in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The motorcoaches belonged to Busco Inc., doing business as Arrow Stage Lines of Omaha, Neb.

On the Net:

National Transportation Safety Board: www.ntsb.gov