California

Feds Urge Bus Safety Rules After Deadly California Bus Crash

Both drivers, five students and their three adult chaperones on the bus died in the 2014 crash.

Federal transportation officials on Tuesday revived their call for buses to be as safe as planes and trains as part of their investigative report on a fiery California collision that killed 10 people last year.

A FedEx tractor-trailer veered across an interstate median about 100 miles north of Sacramento and slammed into a charter bus carrying dozens of high school students heading to a college tour April 10, 2014. Both drivers, five students and their three adult chaperones died.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators determined the truck driver losing control was the probable cause of the crash, but couldn't conclude why. Their investigation also found that students struggled to escape from the bus because of poorly labeled exits and no safety instructions as required by the bus company's policy.

The four-member NTSB at its Tuesday meeting in Washington, D.C., voted to urge regulators to improve emergency exits and add fire-resistant materials to buses so it is easier for passengers to survive crashes.

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said the case exposed "double standards in regulations protecting motor coach passengers."

"When plane crashes are survivable, many more people survive," said Hart.

Board officials said buses should have emergency lighting and more clearly labeled exits as planes do, as well as safety briefings similar to those offered by flight attendants.

More than half of the 29 students interviewed did not know which windows were designated as emergency exits, and some shattered other panels to escape. Those who escaped had to drop 7 feet.

The bus was equipped with seat belts, but not all students were wearing them.

The investigation also raised questions about fire safety.

Flames and smoke enveloped the bus after the crash, and two passengers died of asphyxiation. Board officials said existing standards for vehicle materials withstanding fires treat a four-passenger sedan the same as a double-decker bus and don't take into account fires ignited by crashes.

The agency earlier this year released about 2,100 pages of records from its investigation, but the records did not indicate the FedEx driver's medical condition or whether there were any mechanical defects in the truck.

The records released in May 2015 also included one witness who said the driver of the FedEx delivery truck appeared to be unconscious and slumped over moments before the collision.

A separate 13-month-long investigation by the California Highway Patrol faulted the truck driver, but the state investigators said in May that the driver's body was too badly burned to figure out if the driver fell asleep or had an undiagnosed medical condition.

The CHP report released in May 2015 did, however, conclude there was no willful intent to cause the crash.

"Our investigators carefully analyzed every aspect of this collision and concluded that environmental factors, roadway conditions and vehicle maintenance were not the cause," CHP Northern Division Chief Ruben Leal said in May. "The collision was caused β€” for unknown reasons β€” by the driver’s unsafe turning movement, and although fatigue or an undetermined medical condition may have contributed, there is no conclusive evidence."

FedEx and the bus company, Silverado Stages Inc., are facing lawsuits from survivors of the crash and families of the victims.

Christina Cocca contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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