Safety Board Cites Oversight, Safety Failures in Bus-Truck Crash That Killed 6, Injured 9

Repeated disregard of safety regulations, along with ineffective federal and state enforcement and oversight, contributed to the collision between a bus and box truck in Louisville, New York in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board said at a board meeting last week.

On Jan. 28, 2023, a box truck traveling east on New York State Route 37 crossed over the highway centerline and collided with a bus traveling in the opposite direction. The bus driver and 14 passengers worked for a solar farm construction company. As a result of the crash, six bus occupants died and two were seriously injured. Another six, including the bus driver, sustained minor injuries. The driver of the box truck was also seriously injured.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the investigation found that those responsible for transportation safety and federal oversight failed to do their part including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the states of New York and Montana, among others. “Each of these entities could have, and should have, done more to prevent this horrific crash and tragic loss of life,” Homendy said.

NTSB investigators and board members discussed the multiple safety issues in this collision. These include:

• The truck driver’s fatigue from insufficient sleep associated with his schedule.
• The truck motor carrier’s lack of a structured fatigue management program or use of driver monitoring systems.
• A lack of accessible seat belts and pre-trip safety briefing for bus occupants.
• Lack of administrative safeguards that allowed the solar company LBFNY to register buses out of state and continue its unsafe operations in violation of a federal out-of-service order.
• Ineffective oversight by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which failed to identity and intervene on safety issues associated with truck operator Aero Global Logistics.
• The truck’s lack of lane departure technology.

As a result of this investigation, the board is issuing 12 new recommendations and reiterating three previous recommendations related to occupant protection, federal and state oversight of motor carrier operations, and fatigue countermeasures. These recommendations are being issued to FMSCA, NHTSA, the states of New York and Montana, trucking industry groups and both motor carriers involved in the collision.

The new recommendations, as well as the executive summary, probable cause, and findings of the investigation, are available on the investigation web page. The final report will be available in a few weeks. The public docket for the investigation includes over 2,000 pages of additional reports, interview transcripts and other investigative materials.