NTSB reports defects. Fake trucking company registers in 2022 fatal bus accident

A crash that killed three party bus passengers on a Virginia highway was caused by a tired truck driver who worked for a company that allowed drivers to log excessive hours, a federal report has concluded this week.

The December 2022 crash on Interstate 64 in Williamsburg occurred when a truck on cruise control rear-ended a slow-moving party bus operated by Futrell’s Party Adventures. The accident killed three occupants of the party bus, with nine others seriously injured and 11 slightly injured.

The truck driver, who worked for Triton Logistics Inc. of Romeoville, Illinois, was also seriously injured.

In a report issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators concluded that the truck driver’s cruise control was set at 65 to 70 mph when he collided with the bus, which was traveling about 20 to 25 mph.

The NTSB said Triton Logistics “created fictitious driver accounts for its vehicles’ electronic recording device systems that allowed drivers to exceed federal hours-of-duty regulations and drive while fatigued.”

The report concluded that driver fatigue, activated by the fictitious logs, caused the accident. According to the report, the 61-year-old driver had been driving for seven consecutive days and was finishing a trip from St. Louis, Missouri to Chesapeake, Virginia. The report states that video from the tractor-trailer shows the vehicle drifting repeatedly on the side of the highway in the three minutes before the crash.

Triton did not respond to an email seeking comment, and a woman who answered the phones at the company’s headquarters hung up when a reporter called asking if the company had a comment.

The report recommends that Triton do a better job of verifying the accuracy of driver records and “implement a robust fatigue management program.”

The NTSB also recommended better state and federal oversight.

The report also found that the low speed of the bus contributed to the severity of the accident and may have been caused by a partially blocked fuel filter.

The report concluded that the bus carrier “lacked adequate safety management practices as evidenced by poor maintenance.”

The company did not return an email seeking comment.

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