Driver in fatal bus crash was rested, lawyer says
The driver of a Canadian travel company bus that crashed and killed 9 passengers in Oregon last month had slept for more than seven hours the night prior to the accident, a company attorney said Wednesday.
Attorney Mark Scheer's comments come a day after the U.S. Department of Transportation revoked Vancouver, British Columbia-based Mi Joo Tour & Travel's authority to provide passenger service in the United States after determining a driver was not properly rested when his bus crashed.
A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration investigation found that driver Haeng Kyu Hwang had been on duty for 92 hours in the eight-day stretch before the tragedy, exceeding the 70-hour federal limit.
"I can specifically say that he had seven and a half hours of sleep when they left the morning of the accident," Scheer said.
Scheer didn't address the federal report on Wednesday beyond saying the company had "concerns about the accuracy" of it. The attorney added that black ice was a "significant" factor in the bus losing control on an Oregon highway and bursting through a railing. Scheer said the bus had already made a stop the morning of the crash.
Thirty-eight people were injured. Most of the passengers in the bus heading to Boise, Idaho, were Korean.
Scheer said the driver was seriously injured in the crash, but has been cooperating with investigators. The driver is back in Vancouver.
"Mr. Hwang is a licensed driver. Mr. Hwang had previously worked as a school bus driver and truck driver with no accidents," Scheer said. "He was in good health and he doesn't use alcohol or tobacco."
Scheer said Mi Joo Tour & Travel has no history of passenger injuries and continues to cooperate with authorities and has set up a helpline for passengers and their family members, including interpretation help.
The Oregon State Police and National Transportation Safety Board have yet to say what caused the Dec. 30 crash on Interstate 84 east of Pendleton.
The crash, Oregon's deadliest since 1971, occurred near a spot called Deadman Pass, at the top of a steep, seven-mile descent from the Blue Mountains. A truck had applied sand to the icy road a few hours before the crash and was behind the bus making another run when the vehicle driven by Hwang plowed through a guardrail and 200 feet down an embankment.
On Tuesday, federal authorities also said the company's authority to operate had been suspended for two months early last year because the firm didn't pay a fine for failing to meet U.S. requirements for drug and alcohol testing.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Ever hear of doctoring logs? Truck drivers do it sometimes, and so do bus drivers, as the owners tell them to.Â
7.5 hours off duty?  7.5 hours "behind the door"? 7.5 hours of actual sleep? Was the good lawyer in the room with Hwang?Â
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It usually takes me about an hour or so to eat, wind down, get ready for tomorrow and fall asleep. It takes me about another 45 minutes to wake up, shower, and eat before leaving the house. That doesn't include transit times. Unless Hwang is Superman and can fall asleep on command and doesn't need food or a shower, he may have gotten 5.75 hours of actual sleep - at best.  And, I'm sure a company that works a driver 30% more than allowed by law would put him or her in the most quiet and comfortable of accommodations to make sure he/she is well rested.
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The driver AND company managers need to be held criminally culpable here.
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I'm glad Tri-Met takes safety much more seriously by allowing drivers to work 17-hours a day.
I think most people would be exhausted despite 7 hours of sleep if they had been on duty for 92 hours in the last 8 days. I would imagine driving a tour bus is much more exhausting than driving a semi by yourself. The bus driver has to interact with the passengers, answer questions and possibly point out sites along the route. My hubs is a truck driver and says there is no way he would drive a bus and have to take care of all those people on top of the actual driving.
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The driver and the company broke our federal law. The company should have sent a relief driver to take over after 70 hours in the week. Even if black ice was the primary cause of the crash the driver may have lacked good judgement due to being tired.
Black Ice, He should not have been driving .. When our CUBS went sliding down the hill, Our driver focused on correcting the bus to make sure we didn't wind up in a very bad way. When she recovered and was at the bottm of the hill she Radioed in stating that the one hill is no longer a viable route for bussed .
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That hill was closed. We only have 12 bussed here in Longview lol they are closed on Sundays.
they also shut down at 7:00 pm with the 6:00 Pm being there Last run.
 @lee986321 ...so much for Happy Hour ...:-(
This is going to make things worse for the driver. an admission like this will only give the authorities proof of
failure to obey the warnings of the dangerous driving conditions....jail time.
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