Adopted: June 25, 1985
FATIGUE-RELATED COMMERCIAL
VEHICLE ACCIDENTS:
CHEYENNE, WYOMING
JULY 18,1984 AND
JUNCTION CITY, ARKANSAS
OCTOBER 19, 1984
NTSB Number: HAR-85/04
NTIS Number: PB85-916205
SYNOPSIS
About 12:50 a.m. on July 18, 1984, a 1976 intercity bus, operated by Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo Motorway, Inc., struck the rear of a loaded 1981 tractor-flatbed semitrailers operated by American Colloid Carrier Corporation, in the right lane of northbound Interstate 25 about 3 miles south of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The estimated vehicle speeds were 65 to 75 mph for the bus and 55 mph for the truck. Both vehicles remained jammed together as they came to rest upright in the right lane. It was dark, the weather was clear, and the pavement of the four-lane,, divided highway was dry. Of the 11 bus passengers, 1 passenger was killed, 1 passenger sustained moderate injuries, and 9 passengers received minor injuries. The busdriver was injured seriously and the truckdriver sustained minor injuries. The truckdriver's wife, who was in the sleeper berth of the truck tractor at the time of the collision, was not injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the busdriver's inattention due to lack of sleep and acute fatigue, which resulted in his failure to recognize that he was overtaking a slower-moving vehicle.
About 7:30 a.m. on October 19, 1984, a tractor-flatbed semitrailer operated by Brown Transit, Inc., and traveling about 50 to 55 mph, struck the rear of a stopped schoolbus on southbound State Route 167 near Junction City, Arkansas. The 1977, schoolbus, operated by the Junction City Arkansas School District with its 33 occupants' was pushed about 220 feet south of the point of impact where both vehicles came to rest.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As a result of its investigations of these accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board made the following recommendations:
--to the American Bus Association and the American Trucking Associations, Inc.:
Inform your members of the circumstances of the accidents of July 18, 1984, near Cheyenne, Wyoming, and of October 10, 1984, near Junction City, Arkansas, and urge your members to review their internal policies and procedures for determining the hours of service for full-time and part-time drivers to ensure that drivers do not operate. vehicles while fatigued. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-85-19)
--to the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety of the Federal Highway Administration:
Revise Section 395.8(i) of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require that drivers forward each duty status record to the employing motor carrier immediately upon completion. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-85-20)
Revise Section 395.2 of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to add all time worked by a commercial vehicle driver for all full-time and part-time employers to the definition of "on-duty" time. (Class U, Priority Action) (H-85-21)
Also as a result of its investigation of these accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board reiterates Safety Recommendation H-84-60 issued to the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety of the Federal Highway Administration on August 8, 1984:
Determine practical methods and means to prevent or minimize dozing at the wheel by drivers of carriers in interstate commerce, and advise the Safety Board of its findings.
