NTSB says Florida farmworker crash caused by fatigued driver
WASHINGTON – A fiery crash between a bus and truck that killed four people in Florida revealed gaps in safety regulations governing the transportation of migrant farmworkers, federal investigators ruled Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that the 5:16 a.m. collision July 2, 2016, near St. Marks, Fla., south of Tallahassee, was caused by a bus driver — likely fatigued after helping pick crops — who failed to stop at an intersection and collided with the truck.
The board also found that the bus company, Billy R. Evans Harvesting, failed to exercise adequate safety oversight of the driver, and there was a lack of effective oversight by the Department of Labor and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“I don’t think they would want holes in their baskets, and I don’t think they should have holes in the safety net that is there to protect them while they are being transported,” Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said of the farmworkers. “Yet we did find holes in that safety net.”
The board found similar problems while investigating previous crashes involving migrant farmworkers in Little Rock and Ruther Glen, Va.
The Arkansas crash that killed six passengers on Nov. 6, 2015, involved a motor coach traveling from Michigan to Texas that struck the underside of an overpass along Interstate 40.
The Virginia crash that killed six passengers on June 17, 2016, involved a
15-passenger van traveling from North Carolina to New Jersey along Interstate 95 when it rolled over.
The Florida crash involved a Blue Bird bus that collided with a Verity Van Lines truck. The bus passengers were mostly Haitian farmworkers who had been harvesting corn in Georgia.
The bus driver, Elie Dupiche, then
56, was cited for running a red light and fined $4,500 but was not charged criminally.
Driver fatigue was cited in each of the three crashes reviewed because in each case the bus drivers also worked in the fields, investigators said.
The Florida crash also highlighted the risks of intersection crashes, a national concern investigators said could be reduced with better warnings, such as reflective or lighted signs.
From 2010 through 2015, about
45,000 traffic fatalities occurred at intersections, which was nearly onefourth of all traffic deaths during that period, according to David Rayburn, who investigated highway factors in the accident.