Texas Bus Crash Death Toll Rises
Monday, August 11, 2008
As the investigation continues into the August 8, 2008 north Texas bus crash that killed 17 Vietnamese Catholics on their way to a religious festival in Missouri, six of the survivors, including the bus driver, remained in critical condition.
A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, said on August 11, 2008 that they spoke with the driver shortly after the crash, but he's currently on a respirator and can't talk.
As of August 11, 2008, 19 of the 55 passengers had been released from hospitals throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Four people remained in serious condition following the crash early Friday morning in Sherman while seven people were in stable condition and three were in fair.
An NTSB investigator was in Houston on Monday to review documents collected by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the regulating agency, from the bus company, said NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak.
NTSB investigators also met with the Texas Department of Transportation to gather information about the roadway and traffic in the area where the accident occurred.
Two U.S. senators on August 11, 2008 called on the Senate to immediately take up and pass a motorcoach safety bill when Congress reconvenes in September. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced the measure to help reduce deaths and injuries caused in motorcoach accidents, Hutchison said in a news release.
"Such tragedies are becoming all too common, and many of these deadly accidents are preventable," Hutchison said.
The legislation would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to upgrade federal safety standards for motorcoaches, including requiring seatbelts, said a Hutchison spokesman.
Passengers aboard the Texas bus were thrown about inside the bus and some were ejected.
"It certainly would appear to me there's reason to believe that seatbelts would've saved lives in this particular tragedy," said Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board who is currently a safety consultant in Washington.
But others said it is too soon to say whether the lack of seat belts contributed to the deaths and injuries.
Michele Beckjord, a senior accident investigator with NTSB, said that while the board in the late 1960s and 1970s recommended seatbelts in motorcoaches it has since taken a newer stance that encompases seatbelts but also includes other devices that help keep passengers in their seats.
"You want to make sure they don't get ejected," Beckjord said.
Meanwhile, federal authorities moved to shut down the companies linked to the charter bus. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Iguala BusMex and Angel Tours Inc. to cease commercial operations. The agency issued a second order finding that the activities of Angel De La Torre, owner and president of the bus companies, "in connection with motor carrier operations pose an 'imminent hazard' to the public."
Authorities also announced that an Iguala BusMex bus was pulled out of service at the religious festival in Carthage, Mo., because it was unauthorized to operate.
Serchak said the NTSB is trying to set up a meeting with the attorney for Iguala. So far, she said, they have not spoken.
Bus driver Barrett Wayne Broussard's driving record includes citations for driving while intoxicated in 2001 and for speeding in May 2004 and March 2007.
A person answering a phone number listed for Broussard in Houston said hello and was then silent when asked if it was Broussard's home. No one answered the door at his home.
The 52-year-old's license was suspended for two months in 2001 because of the DWI conviction in Harris County, said Debbie Hersman, an NTSB spokeswoman.
Broussard failed roadside inspections twice last year, Hersman said. Inspectors pulled his bus out of service both times.
Iguala BusMex applied in June for a federal license to operate as a charter but was still awaiting approval, according to online records. Angel Tours was forced by federal regulators to take its vehicles out of interstate service June 23 after an unsatisfactory review.
Inspectors are also looking at the mechanics of the wrecked bus and examining its interior damage, said Robert Accetta, the NTSB member leading the investigation.
Authorities said the vehicle's right front tire, which blew out, had been retreaded in violation of safety standards. The bus skidded about 130 feet before striking a guardrail. It then traveled nearly 120 feet before coming to rest down an embankment near a creek.
Posted in Accidents & Personal Injury • Bus Accidents