NTSB Report Blames Texas Bus Accident on Tire, Guardrail Failure

As Texas personal injury lawyers, we have had plenty of criticism to level at federal agencies for their lack of oversight over the commercial motor coach industry. The National Transportation Safety Board is now joining in that criticism, calling out these agencies for their failure to act on several safety recommendations made in the past.

This week, the NTSB released its report on the Sherman bus crash last year that killed 17 people. The agency blames tire failure and a weak guardrail for the crash, and recommends steps that can be taken to prevent multiple fatalities again.  In August last year, a charter bus with 55 passengers on board crashed off a highway bridge in Sherman, and fell about 8 feet below. 17 people died in that accident, and several were injured, many of them seriously.

The NTSB report has found that the crash was caused by a punctured tire that caused a tread separation. The agency is recommending that new buses come with tire pressure monitoring devices, instead of drivers conducting mere visual checks. The agency is also calling for better designs of guardrails, enhanced oversight of bus inspections and mandatory passenger restraints in buses.

There's special criticism reserved for the Texas Department of Public Safety which conducts vehicle inspections. The bus in the crash had actually passed an inspection just 8 days earlier, in spite of several flaws. The NTSB believes that the Texas DPS isn't doing enough to oversee inspecting facilities, and recommends more federal oversight.

Federal, State Agencies Have Failed to Implement Safety Recommendations, Thus Increasing Accident Risks

The NTSB recommendations are not binding, which is partly the reason why agencies like the FMCSA have been content to sit on several NTSB recommendations made over the decades. One recommendation made back in the sixties, calls for mandatory seatbelts on buses.  Forty years, on, that recommendation remains just that - a recommendation, which the FMCSA has chosen to ignore.

As Texas bus accident lawyers, we fail to understand why it should take 40+ years for the FMCSA to act on having seatbelts in buses. It's plain to see that if the Sherman passengers had been restrained in their seats, they would have had a greater chance of surviving or escaping without serious injuries. Unfortunately, bureaucratic red tapism and official apathy failed these passengers, leaving them victims of a crash they could have so easily survived.