The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is the governmental agency tasked with establishing and enforcing safety rules pertaining to commercial vehicles. In an effort to prevent commercial vehicle accidents from occurring, FMCSA regulators routinely inspect commercial vehicle companies such as bus companies and cite these companies for safety violations.

FMCSA officials, however, have come under fire for allowing one commercial bus company that had been cited for 204 safety violations within a 10 month timeframe, to continue operating. Typically a bus company facing such a high number of safety violations would be forced to close. The bus regulator who issued several of the safety violations, however, chose to grant the bus company a 10-day extension to improve safety measures rather than force the company to close.

During that 10-day extension, one of the bus drivers employed with the company was transporting customers when he fell asleep behind the wheel. The tragic bus accident resulted in four fatalities and numerous injuries.

In response to the accident, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered FMCSA officials to stop granting extensions. The official rule banning such extensions for commercial vehicle companies along with trucking companies transporting hazardous materials recently became official.

Sadly, four individuals had to lose their lives and several other individuals suffer permanent injuries before safety rules established by the FMCSA were followed by the agency's own regulators. The bus company, individual driver and potentially the FMCSA could be deemed negligent in causing the fatal bus accident.

Source: Bloomberg, "Rules for U.S. Bus Investigations Tighten After Fatal Crash," Jeff Plungis, Oct. 22, 2012