A new National Transportation Safety Board report of a Greyhound bus crash highlights the fatal consequences of a lack of truck parking that all motorists face.
On Tuesday, May 20, the NTSB reviewed the findings of an investigation into a deadly Greyhound bus crash involving three tractor-trailers parked along an exit ramp to a rest area. Although bus driver fatigue was likely the primary cause, a truck parking shortage contributed to the crash.
NTSB’s recommendations include expanding truck parking, something stakeholders have been urging state and federal lawmakers and agencies to do for well over a decade. The board also pressed both Greyhound and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to do something about mitigating bus driver fatigue, especially with overnight drivers.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., quickly jumped on NTSB’s findings, pointing to the need to get his Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act across the finish line to fund parking expansion.
“I grew up in a family trucking business and have been shouting from the rooftops for years about America’s dangerous shortage of truck parking spaces,” Bost said in a statement. “When exhausted truckers are forced to choose between pushing that extra mile to find safe parking or pull over on the shoulder of busy interstates and offramps, you’ve got a recipe for disaster. That’s exactly what we witnessed here in Southern Illinois. I am hopeful the NTSB’s final report on the Highland crash will help provide additional momentum in Congress to pass my legislation to expand safe, accessible parking options for big trucks nationwide.”
At the center of the report is a fatal crash involving a Greyhound bus and three parked tractor-trailers.
The incident happened around 1:48 a.m. in July 2023 near Highland, Ill. A Greyhound bus was traveling at highway speeds on Interstate 70 when it began veering out of the right lane as it approached the Silver Lake rest area. The bus drove onto the rest area exit ramp, colliding with three parked tractor-trailers.
Three people were killed, with 11 bus passengers and the driver injured. The three truck drivers were uninjured.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association pointed out that the national truck parking shortage affects everybody, not just truckers.
“We’ve been saying for years that the truck parking crisis doesn’t ONLY impact truckers,” OOIDA Director of Government Affairs Collin Long said. “Unfortunately, the NTSB has confirmed the effects can be felt by anyone using our highways, often in disastrous ways.”
‘Limited truck parking’
NTSB concluded that a lack of truck parking contributed to the crash, further exposing the safety risks to all motorists posed by the nationwide crisis.
There are only 21 truck parking spaces at the Silver Lake rest area. The number of spaces has not increased since it was built in the 1970s, despite a more than 300% increase in the number of trucks on the road since. A 2018 parking study found 100-150% utilization of that space – i.e. not enough spaces to meet demand. In the past 10 years, there have been two other crashes near the rest area involving trucks parked on the shoulder.
“We found that combination vehicles routinely parked in the Silver Lake Rest Area exit ramp shoulder because of limited truck parking, which increases the risk of a collision from an errant vehicle,” said Dan Walsh, an engineer at NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety.
The next area is 76 miles away. Truck drivers approaching the end of their hours of service are faced with parking on the ramps when the lot is full or violating regulations in pursuit of parking.
NTSB officials noted that personal conveyance could theoretically be used to move to the nearest legal truck parking space.
Still, because that rule is interpreted and enforced inconsistently, most truckers decide to stay put rather than gamble.
Walsh also mentioned Jason’s Law truck parking surveys released in 2015 and 2020, which showed that public truck parking was not meeting demand. A recent study published by the American Transportation Research Institute put the accepted ratio of public-to-private parking at 1-to-4. Of the 47 states surveyed, 37 did not meet that expectation – including Illinois, with a 1-to-6.7 ratio.
Funding roadblocks
NTSB members agreed that funding is one of the most significant issues with truck parking.
Kenneth Bragg, chief of NTSB’s Multidisciplinary Investigations Branch, said NTSB believes there is limited funding for truck parking at the state and federal levels. NTSB member Thomas Chapman pointed out that nothing has been done, despite the longstanding issue.
“It appears that essentially the same obstacles we were facing two decades ago are the same obstacles we’re facing today,” Chapman said. “It’s a funding issue. I’m guessing in some respects, it might be more than funding. It could be available space, but this is a problem that has been around for a long time, and it’s only getting worse.”
Bost’s Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act was mentioned several times. Introduced for a fourth time this year, the bill would dedicate $755 million to projects that expand truck parking capacity. NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy gave credit to Bost for addressing the issue and said she hoped the bill would get some movement.
“The NTSB doesn’t usually weigh in on the need for congressional funding for specific programs, so I do think this is a big deal, and I do think it is much needed,” Homendy said.
NTSB recommends establishing grant programs to increase truck parking and allowing federal funding to be used for maintenance costs. Currently, states are on the hook to pay for maintenance of a rest area after it is built, creating a financial roadblock. Furthermore, NTSB calls for considering ending the federal ban on commercializing rest areas.
“NTSB has called for the establishment of a grant program for states, local governments and other eligible entities to increase parking for CMVs, which in my eyes is an endorsement of the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act,” Long said. “We hope the U.S. Senate is listening, because it’s abundantly clear something needs to be done to prevent more crashes like this.”
Driver fatigue
The investigation revealed concerns about the bus driver’s work schedule and lack of sleep, as well as Greyhound’s pattern of doing nothing about the driver’s history of company violations.
Before the crash, the bus driver had been awake for more than 17 hours, including 13 hours on duty. Crash scene investigators found no signs of braking, suggesting the driver was fatigued. Passengers said the driver had swerved out of the lane multiple times during the trip, driving over rumble strips on the shoulder.
A highly irregular work schedule likely compromised his sleep. For example, on June 21, 2023, the bus driver started his shift at 3 a.m. He then started at 4:30 p.m. the following day and at 10:30 a.m. on June 23. Additionally, the driver did not utilize layover time to rest in the hours before departing for the trip, despite Greyhound providing him with a hotel room and terminal break room.
“You could have the best hours-of-service regulations out there, but if you’re not using your rest time to actually rest, that’s the problem as well,” Homendy said. “We’ve seen that, whether it’s in highway crashes or rail accidents, pipeline explosions – we’ve seen it everywhere.”
The 59-year-old’s health could have increased his risk of fatigue as well. NTSB’s report states that he suffered from obstructive sleep apnea and diabetes at the time of the crash.
Problems began very soon after the driver started working at Greyhound, which hired him in April 2018. One month into the job, he was involved in a fatigue-related crash when he rear-ended a moving combination vehicle.
Investigators found the driver racked up 13 written reprimands between February 2019 and October 2021. He received at least 16 reprimands for speeding, including going 77 mph in a 55 mph zone. However, his official employee record shows only three infractions.
Greyhound uses driver-monitoring systems, including driver-facing cameras, to keep track of driver performance and issues. In the 12 months leading up to the crash, the bus driver had accumulated 71 driver-monitoring system events. He was on a top 20 list of drivers generating the most violations of this kind.
Despite the numerous reprimands and driver-monitoring system violations, no disciplinary action was taken against the bus driver. Investigators found that the company had mismanaged employee files, including missing files related to policy violations.
Greyhound made significant fatigue management changes in 2000 based on NTSB safety recommendations. However, the company reverted to old bad habits, with NTSB member Michael Graham calling it a “catastrophic backsliding.” LL
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