Federal officials say a deadly New York tour bus crash last year was caused by a driver suffering from fatigue.
The National Transportation Safety Board, in a unanimous vote Tuesday, said the bus company, World Wide Tours of Greater New York, was also to blame for not providing adequate safety oversight of the driver, Ophadell Williams.
Federal regulators shut down the bus company for safety violations after the March 12, 2011, accident that claimed 15 lives. But the company's employees, buses and other assets were transferred to a closely related bus company that continues to operate, investigators said.
The bus was returning to Chinatown from an overnight trip to a Mohegan Sun when it clattered along a highway guard rail, toppled over and crashed into the support pole for a highway sign.
The pole knifed through the bus front to back along the window line, peeling the roof off all the way to the back tires.
Investigators had already determined that the bus was speeding at the time of the crash, and that the driver — Ophadell Williams — had a checkered work and driving history, including 18 suspensions of his driving privileges.
Documents released by the board last month indicate that during the three days prior to the accident, Williams' cellphone and rental car were in almost continuous use during the daytime hours when he had said he was sleeping.
Federal safety officials previously have expressed concern about the prevalence of operator fatigue in all modes of transportation, including the motor coach industry, which transports more than 700 million passengers a year in the U.S. — roughly the same as the domestic airlines.
The New York accident, and other fatal accidents in New Jersey and Virginia last spring, sparked an investigation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration into the safety of curbside bus operators.
Last week, government safety officials swooped down on more than two dozen curbside bus operations that mostly ferry passengers in the busy East Coast transportation corridor between New York and Florida, closing them for safety violations in the largest single federal crackdown on the industry.
