The transportation secretary has questioned the qualifications of a bus driver who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after a chain reaction crash that killed five people in Stafford County, Virginia.
What exactly are the qualifications for a driver and are there any processes to ensure greater safety when traveling at night?
All bus drivers are required to hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL) along with a passenger endorsement, according to Scott Michael, president of the United Motor Coach Association.
“There’s a new entry-level driver training requirement that the feds have put in place back in ‘22 that requires that you go through the curriculum, and there’s required training and certification things that you have to go for that process,” Michael said.
He said most motor coach companies also have internal training.
One focus of the investigation is whether English language proficiency may have played a role in the crash. The driver, 48-year-old Jing Dong, a naturalized citizen originally from China who lives in New York, is a licensed commercial driver in that state.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the English language proficiency—that is a requirement that has been in place for a number of years, and some states have done a better job of enforcing that than others,” Michael explained. “You have to have at least enough ability to speak English that you can interact with any law enforcement personnel that you might encounter, and obviously you need to be able to read the traffic signs.”
Investigators with NTSB said speed played a role and the bus failed to slow down as it approached a work zone on I-95 before crashing into six other cars.
While exact causes in this crash are not known at this time, previous fatal motor coach crashes have found driver fatigue to be a contributing factor in many of them. Like other commercial drivers for freight, passenger drivers have hours of service limitation to ensure safety for passengers.
This crash happened at 2:35 a.m. according to Virginia State Police.
“I do know that many of our members have been for years examining whether it makes sense to operate at night, and some of them are either limiting the number of trips that they agree to do that require overnight travel,” Michael noted.
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