NTSB cites sleep loss, poor oversight in 2011 bus crash

[alp227]

Source: CNN

The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded a deadly accident involving a tour bus driver who fell asleep while driving on a Virginia interstate last year was caused in part by "acute sleep loss" as well as inadequate oversight by the bus company and the government.

Four people died on May 31, 2011, when a motorcoach operated by Sky Express Inc., with 59 people on board bound for New York, drifted off Interstate 95 near Richmond, Virginia, around 5 a.m. The bus struck a cable barrier, rotated clockwise, then overturned. The roof was crushed. In addition to the four deaths, 49 other passengers were injured.

The driver, Kin Yiu Cheung, was slightly injured and refused medical treatment, safety officials said.

At a board meeting Tuesday, the safety board said that a 13-month investigation found the driver failed to maintain control of the vehicle "because of fatigue resulting from acute sleep loss, poor sleep quality, and ... the failure of Sky Express Inc. management to follow adequate safety practices and to exercise safety oversight of the driver."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/31/us/virginia-bus-crash-report/index.html

[lib2DaBone]

1. Well NSS (no shit Sherlock)

Bus companies pay crap wages and push their drivers to the brink of exhaustion.

If you refuse to drive.. they threaten your job.

If a driver gets caught by the DOT driving over hours.. the DRIVER takes the hit.. not the Bus company. (the driver making $9 an hour is expected to keep his bus clean using his own supplies, drive within the law even if his company threatens him for refusing to break the law, and the police harass bus drivers for permits and fees and refuse them a place to park.

Washington D.C. is the WORST place to drive a bus.. Gestapo cops from 20 different agencies will make your life miserable.

Bus driving is the new form of indentured servitude.

Unsafe buses.. over-loading.. over-worked drivers.. lack of enforcement...it's a lose-lose for all involved.

[jberryhill]

3. Sounds more like it was one of those dodgy bus lines

You meet at a corner where you are told to go 15 minutes before your bus leaves. They drive like hell for cheap and only take cash.

[jberryhill]

2. The Economy Bus Driver Battle Cry...

FUNG WAH!!!!!











Ah, shit... I have to drive from Philly to Providence tomorrow, and I'll have to dodge the f'ing crazy Fung Wah drivers north of the city.

[alp227]

4. Excuse me, but I'm Chinese-American and am a little disturbed with this joke.

I'm starting to think about "ching chong" jokes or the Asian driver stereotype. Unfortunately, the jury voted 2-4 to leave this post alone. So just think about it next time.

[jberryhill]

5. It's about that particular bus line

...and the way it is managed.

When you see "Fung Wah" in your rearview mirror in Connecticut, it's like being in the wrong lane on the autobahn.

That is the name of the bus line, and it has many imitators, which are managed and structured to evade effective regulation. I did not name the bus line.

The Fung Wah line has become iconic, for getting from NY to Boston for travelers whose budget requires trade-offs between cost and potential mortality.

[alp227]

6. But your subject line "Chinese Bus Line Battle Cry"

implies that you're tying in the Fung Wah incident with every American of Chinese descent. I don't think you're bigoted, but I think you could've come up with a better joke structure.

[jberryhill]

7. Ah...

I don't know what "Fung Wah" means, but it has a certain exclamatory impact. I meant "Chinese" as in the language. Will edit.

[alp227]

8. OK then, I hope you learned something today.

And according to Wikipedia, "Fung wah" 風華 means "magnificent wind" in Chinese.

[jberryhill]

9. I knew that once

Which is why I had associated it with "Divine Wind", because those guys drive like kamikaze pilots.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. So Fung Wah is not like "Megabus"?

Megabus has a pretty good reputation.

Anyway, wouldn't the bus in your rear view mirror have the name "haW gnuF??

[jberryhill]

11. Fung Wah has a litany of violations and safety incidents