A crash that killed three party bus passengers on a Virginia highway was caused by an overtired truck driver who worked for a company that allowed its drivers to work too much overtime, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
The December 2022 accident on Interstate 64 in Williamsburg occurred when a truck set to cruise control struck a slow-moving Futrell’s Party Adventures party bus. The accident killed three party bus passengers, left nine others seriously injured, and left eleven with minor injuries.
The truck driver, who worked for Triton Logistics Inc. in Romeoville, Illinois, was also seriously injured.
In a report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators concluded that the truck driver’s cruise control was set at 65 to 70 miles per hour when he collided with the bus, which was traveling at about 20 to 25 miles per hour.
According to the NTSB, Triton Logistics “created fictitious driver accounts for its vehicles’ electronic recording systems, allowing drivers to exceed federal work hour requirements and drive while fatigued.”
The report concluded that driver fatigue caused by the fictitious logs caused the accident. According to the report, the 61-year-old driver had been on the road for seven days straight and was finishing a trip from St. Louis, Missouri, to Chesapeake, Virginia, at the time of the accident. According to the report, video of the semi-truck shows the vehicle repeatedly drifting onto the shoulder of the highway in the three minutes before the accident.
Triton did not respond to an email seeking comment, and a woman answering phones at the company’s headquarters hung up when a reporter called to ask if the company had a comment.
The report recommends that Triton better monitor 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 slow speed of the bus contributed to the severity of the accident and may have been caused by a partially clogged fuel pre-filter.
The report concluded that the bus company “lacked appropriate safety management practices, as evidenced by inadequate maintenance.”
The company did not respond to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
Click here to read the full report.
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