Both professional drivers fatigued in accident that killed 13
“It was horrifying. For the next couple of weeks, it was hard to go to sleep,” said Rafael Becerra, a heavy-duty truck driver.
Bacerra reflects on the deadly October 2016 accident on I-10 in Palm Springs that involved a tour bus and big rig. His company was called to the location to help first responders
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board announced both commercial drivers were partly to blame, saying they were unable to respond appropriately due to a lack of sleep.
The California Highway Patrol, contributing their own investigation into the crash to the NTSB report. “Our CHP officers did a 1500 hour investigation into this crash. They wrote a report that was 841 pages long,” said CHP officer Mike Radford.
“Fatigue is a huge problem,” Radford continued. “There are many crashes that are caused by this issue and it is something that people don’t really talk about as much as other major issues like DUI and speeding.”
While there are laws and hour-logging protocols in place,
“They give us an 8-hour clock to run. They give us a half an hour break, then they give us another three hours,” said Shawn Beavers, who drives 600 miles a day.
Many commercial drivers work around it.
“We have people that use more than one logbook. Just in case they’re pulled over or they go through a checking station,” Radford said. “They have multiple log books they can give to an officer. One is accurate, one is not accurate and just so they can kind of break the rules and drive too much.”
The CHP said since the accident, officers have been briefed to pay more attention to logbook violations, and to watch for symptoms of fatigue.
This December, commercial drivers will be mandated to switch to electronic logging devices, with the hope that it will help to reduce fatigue-related driving accidents.
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
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