A recent federal report has determined that the tragic crash on Interstate 64 in Williamsburg, Virginia, which resulted in the deaths of three passengers on a party bus, was caused by a fatigued truck driver. The accident occurred in December 2022, when a truck on cruise control collided with the slow-moving party bus operated by Futrell’s Party Adventures. The crash led to three fatalities and multiple injuries among the passengers on the bus.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report released on Wednesday, the truck driver, employed by Triton Logistics Inc. of Romeoville, Illinois, was found to have been operating the vehicle at a speed of 65 to 70 mph when it struck the party bus traveling at a much slower speed of 20 to 25 mph. The report highlighted that Triton Logistics had been allowing its drivers to exceed federal hours-of-service regulations by creating fake driver accounts on electronic logging devices, leading to driver fatigue.
The 61-year-old truck driver had been on the road for seven consecutive days before the crash, completing a trip from St. Louis, Missouri, to Chesapeake, Virginia. Video footage from the tractor-trailer revealed that the vehicle had been drifting onto the highway shoulder in the minutes leading up to the collision. Triton Logistics did not respond to requests for comment regarding the report’s findings.
In addition to emphasizing the importance of verifying the accuracy of drivers’ records, the NTSB recommended that Triton implement a comprehensive fatigue management program to prevent similar incidents in the future. The report also called for improved state and federal oversight in the transportation industry.
Furthermore, the investigation uncovered that the bus’s slow speed at the time of the accident may have been influenced by a partially blocked prescreen fuel filter, indicating inadequate maintenance practices by the bus carrier. According to the report, the bus company displayed a lack of appropriate safety management measures. Attempts to reach the company for a response to the report were unsuccessful.
