NTSB report: Fatigue, disregard for safety regs and oversight failures led to fatal collision between bus and truck in New York

​​WASHINGTON —  Repeated disregard of safety regulations, along with ineffective federal and state enforcement and oversight, contributed to the collision between a bus and box truck in Louisville, N.Y. in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board said at a board meeting Tuesday.

On Jan. 28, 2023, a box truck traveling east on New York State Route 37 crossed over the highway centerline and collided with a bus traveling in the opposite direction. The bus driver and 14 passengers worked for a solar farm construction company. As a result of the crash, six bus occupants died and two were seriously injured. Another six, including the bus driver, sustained minor injuries. The driver of the box truck was also seriously injured.

“At the NTSB, we believe the only acceptable number of injuries and crashes on our roads is zero,” said Jennifer Homendy NTSB Chair. The only way to achieve this is by adopting a safe system approach that includes layers of redundancy, ensuring that if one layer fails, people are still protected. It was clear from today’s meeting that there was insufficient redundancy to protect those traveling on State Route 37 in Louisville, New York that morning. Our investigation found that those responsible for transportation safety and federal oversight failed to do their part. This includes motor carriers and regulatory agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the states of New York and Montana, among others. Each of these entities could have, and should have, done more to prevent this horrific crash and tragic loss of life. We are committed to working with the recipients of our recommendations to implement the critical changes identified in today’s report, with the ultimate goal of saving lives and preventing future tragedies on our roads.”

During the meeting, NTSB investigators and board members discussed the multiple safety issues in this collision. These include:

• The truck driver’s fatigue from insufficient sleep associated with his schedule.
• The truck motor carrier’s lack of a structured fatigue management program or use of driver monitoring systems.
• A lack of accessible seat belts and pre-trip safety briefing for bus occupants.
• Lack of administrative safeguards that allowed solar company LBFNY to register buses out of state and continue its unsafe operations in violation of a federal out-of-service order.
• Ineffective oversight by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which failed to identity and intervene on safety issues associated with truck operator Aero Global Logistics.
• The truck’s lack of lane departure technology.

According to the NTSB, as a result of this investigation, the board is issuing 12 new recommendations and reiterating three previous recommendations related to occupant protection, federal and state oversight of motor carrier operations and fatigue countermeasures. These recommendations are being issued to FMSCA, NHTSA, the states of New York and Montana, trucking industry groups and both motor carriers involved in this collision.

The new recommendations, as well as the executive summary, probable cause, and findings of the investigation, are available on the investigation web page. The final report will be published on the NTSB’s website in several weeks.

The public docket for the investigation includes over 2,000 pages of additional factual information such as reports, interview transcripts and other investigative materials.