Tuesday, March 15th 2011, 4:00 AM
The driver who was at the wheel during Saturday morning's horrific bus crash in the Bronx told authorities he lost control after being clipped by a passing truck. His claim is under investigation.
Whether or not Ophadell Williams' story holds up, he may well have been driving without proper rest. Some passengers reported he hit the rumble strip on the side of the highway several times before the crash, indicating he might have dozed off.
Given his record, it is appalling that Williams was ferrying 32 people at high speeds at all.
In 1990, he was convicted of manslaughter for a stabbing. He served two years. In 1997, he swiped an $84,000 check from the Police Athletic League. He did three years for that. In 2003, he was busted for driving without a license and for having police scanners in his possession.
The scheduling of overnight trips in the thriving business of busing gamblers between New York City and area casinos demands intense official scrutiny beyond the tragic events that unfolded on Williams' run.
The National Transportation Safety Board must determine whether the regulations governing long-haul driving sufficiently protect the public in this unique type of business.
One of the many drivers who deliver passengers to gaming tables in Connecticut on cheap-seat buses, Williams left Chinatown at 7:45 p.m. Friday for the three-hour drive up Interstate 95 to the Mohegan Sun casino.
Once there, he had about a four-hour wait, from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., while his passengers gambled to their hearts' content. Around 3:45, he loaded back up and headed home.
It was during that return trip, around 5:35 a.m., that Williams' speeding bus flipped over, skidded into a metal traffic pole and split open. Fifteen people died.
The rules governing driver fatigue set out by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration bar drivers from operating vehicles if they've been on duty - driving or waiting to drive - for 15 hours. The regs also prohibit driving after being on duty for 70 hours during eight consecutive days.
Williams was on duty for about 10 hours - from 7:45 p.m. to 5:35 a.m. - when he crashed. That is below the 15-hour on-duty limit, although what he did before 7:45 Friday evening is not known.
Thus, there are big unanswered questions: What time did he wake up before his departure Friday? Had he slept through the day so he would be fresh for his run? Had he reported for work without rest? Had he tried to catch some relief by napping while his passengers gambled? Overall, how many hours had Williams driven during the previous eight days?
The NTSB and the state police must examine all the logs of Williams' bus company, World Wide Travel, as well as the records of its competitors in the overnight gambling business. Investigators must also question current and former drivers about their rest patterns.
In the last two years, World Wide has been cited five times for fatigued driving and investigated in at least two crashes, according to federal records. It has racked up 35 violations in the last year for mechanical and safety issues.
Many of those are for log keeping, but some are for violations of rules supposedly intended to prevent drivers from falling asleep.
Those rules themselves bear scrutiny. They may work well for long-haul truckers and intercity bus drivers traveling thousands of miles. But they may well be ill-suited to regulating an industry whose bread and butter is round trips in the wee hours.
With World Wide Travel alone running 11 round trips daily to Mohegan Sun, these discount bus trips are big business. The government must make sure the odds of drivers and passengers getting to their destinations alive are in their favor.
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