83 tour bus accident deaths prompts safety investigation


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TOOELE — After an investigation into several tour bus accidents that injured 83 and killed nine in four states, a Nation Transportation Safety Board report calls for more oversight of bus and truck companies.

The NTSB said another government agency, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, needs to do a better job regulating commercial buses and trucks.

Sherm North, a local bus driver with tour bus company D & D, said the report confirms what he has been concerned about and telling people for years.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused an October bus crash on I-80 that killed a bus driver who was North's friend. The crash and death of his friend was enough to make North think about his own career.

"I lost a very dear friend, and it's just what happened. And we lose more and more," North said.

North said that in the case of his friend it looked like a bad accident, but he has heard of plenty of other bus crashes that were preventable.

"I love the industry, I love the people I work with, I love the companies I've worked with — I just don't like the idea we put money before safety," North said.

In the NTSB report, investigators looked at bus and truck crashes in California, Oregon, Kentucky and Tennessee. In those crashes, 83 people were injured in total, and nine died in the Oregon crash.

In the Oregon accident, investigators learned the driver was on duty for 92 hours in an 8-day stretch, even though 70 hours is the federal limit.

North said a driver has to show his driving logs at state entry ports, but that's only if they pull over for the port. He said some drivers "know how to work the system."

"You can go anywhere from fudging logs to some people carry two or three logs," North said. "(You can) change the itinerary to whatever it takes to make it look good."

North said drivers do this not only because they need the work, but because if they say "no" to companies, they might get no work at all.

"They need the money and do what you have to do to work. You have to do what you have to do to work. If you don't take it, there's a driver out there who needs money. He'll do it," North said.

North said it's not uncommon to drive all the way from Denver, and then be asked to do a Wendover run right after. He feels if the public knew how many hours bus drivers were actually driving consecutively, change would come a lot faster.

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