Federal agency shuts down bus firm after fatal accident
Share with others:
In the three weeks since regulators paid a visit to Mr. Ho Charter Service, the bus company continued to violate federal regulations, hiring two new drivers who falsified logbooks and who failed to submit to drug screening, a shutdown order said.
One of those drivers, 39-year-old Bo Hua Tan, was behind the wheel of a motor coach when he slammed into the back of a tractor trailer on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Monday morning. Mr. Tan was killed and two dozen passengers were injured, along with the truck driver he struck.
Thursday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shut down the Bethlehem-based Mr. Ho Charter Service, declaring it an "imminent hazard."
"This finding means that based upon your present state of unacceptable safety compliance and your failure to adequately establish and maintain safety management systems and ensure your drivers are qualified, your operations pose an imminent hazard to public safety," the order said.
It requires that the company deliver its passengers to their destination and then immediately cease operations until it meets certain requirements, including the installation of electronic monitors to keep track of how many hours drivers are behind the wheel and drug testing a recently hired driver.
The shutdown marks the sixth time in a little more than a month that the FMCSA has issued an "out of service order" for a bus company following the revelation of ongoing safety violations.
The American Bus Association, which represents more than half of motor carriers nationwide, praised the swiftness of the crackdown on Mr. Ho Charter Service, and said the agency has picked up its enforcement efforts since it was criticized by Congress for its poor oversight on bus services that were involved in a string of fatal accidents. Most recently, a bus overturned outside of Richmond, Va., killing four passengers May 31.
"It looks as though in the last couple of weeks ... that the FMCSA has stepped up their enforcement and they have been more aggressive with looking at these companies and getting them off the road," said Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association. "This issue is getting a lot of attention because these bad operators, these companies that are operating illegally, are killing people."
The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation into the accident because of the recent string of bus crash fatalities.
First Published July 2, 2011 12:00 am
