NTSB targets transit bus safety (11/23/98)

NTSB targets transit bus safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal safety investigators, reacting to several recent fatal bus crashes, are calling for more oversight to ensure the buses millions of Americans ride are safe and properly operated.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said accident reporting is so haphazard and inaccurate, there's no way to determine the overall safety of the nation’s bus fleets.

"Safety responsibility with a transit bus is just the same as when people get on an airline or any other type of public transportation," said NTSB chairman Jim Hall. "They need to be sure that safety is being put first."

In a series of recommendations the NTSB recently made to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the board said a uniform program should be developed to "assess and ensure" the safety of transit bus operations that receive federal money.

Hall noted public transportation receives $2.5 billion a year in federal subsidies, but he said "a very poor job is being done at the federal level" in collecting and analyzing data about accidents and safety programs.

DOT said it would offer no comment on Hall's remarks or the NTSB recommendations until officials at the Federal Transit Administration had a chance to review them.

Hall and NTSB investigators said simple oversight may have prevented some of the recent tragedies.

For example, in August, two Nashville teenagers were killed when a Metro Transit Authority driver lost control of his bus while speeding to make up lost time. Hall said there were medical questions about the driver and mechanical conditions on the bus that should have been detected.

The head of the transit agency, Robert Babbitt, disputed Hall's criticism and said the accident was caused by unexplained erratic behavior by a 30-year-veteran driver, not a systematic problem.