National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman testified at a U.S. Senate committee hearing that the tour bus that crashed on I-95 in the Bronx earlier this month, killing 15 passengers, was going near 78 mph. The speed limit for commercial vehicles is 55 mph. The bus, operated by World Wide Tours, overturned, slid 500 feet, and then crashed into a highway sign pole, while sheared the bus in half.
Hersman made recommendations for better bus safety, such as better bus design (stronger roofs, redesigning window emergency exits) and more government oversight of drivers and buses, as well as using technology like forward-collision warning systems. She told CNN, "Unlike when travelers get in their own automobiles, passengers boarding a motor coach place their lives in the hands of the motor coach operator and its driver." In the meantime, another bus company which had a fatal accident on the NJ Turnpike this month was suspended.
The driver of the bus, Ophadell Williams, claims the bus overturned when he swerved to avoid a tractor-trailer, but passengers say he had been repeatedly swerving into the rumble strips, leading investigators to suspect he was sleeping. Williams' lawyer said of the NTSB's speed estimate, "I’d like to know: How do they know, and what are they basing that on?" The bus's video camera did not record the crash.
