Report: Truck driver fatigue caused crash that killed 10
October 4, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, fatigue, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Transportation safety
PDF The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says a 2009 crash that killed 10 people was likely caused by driver fatigue.
A combination of acute sleep loss, his shift work and mild sleep apnea caused 76-year-old driver Donald Creed to slam into several vehicles that had slowed down because of another minor crash along Interstate 4 near Miami, OK, according to the NTSB.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol report had earlier blamed the crash on inattentive driving. The report said Creed never applied his truck’s brakes.
Creed was charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 10 years of probation.
The NTSB also approved several recommendations in connection with the case, requiring:
- all motor carriers to adopt a fatigue management program
- all heavy commercial vehicles to be equipped with video event recorders, and
- all large trucks to use data recorders.
SafetyNewsAlert.com delivers the latest Safety news once a week to the inboxes of over 270,000 Safety professionals.
Click here to sign up and start your FREE subscription to SafetyNewsAlert!
Tags: 10 killed, driver fatigue, truck crash
Loading ...
October 12th, 2010 at 10:32 am
76 year old truck driver? Really? 76? Kudos to the folks “of age” for driving, but really? A combination of acute sleep loss, his shift work and mild sleep apnea - and he was driving? The man killed 10 people and only gets 30 days in jail?!? Really?? Please tell me they revoked his driver’s license!! Or was he texting too?
October 12th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
This is an issue that has too many side issues…. By that, I mean that we have to trust our drivers when they say they have available hours, and are rested. More government regs and video recorders does not a safe person make. It may change much needed behaivor, but in the end, people are still human.
The report does not state what the vehicle he struck did to get hit, either. The people may have not seen the accident, then abrubtly stopped! Making an unfortunate situation a catastrophe. Just because the courts rule, that does not let us know the facts.
I’m in HSE for a large oil field transportation co, and we have been sued for someone elses accident and payed out 6.4 million bucks!!!
October 14th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
[...] Report: Truck driver fatigue caused crash that killed 10 | SafetyNewsAlert.com | Occupational safety… [...]
April 4th, 2011 at 1:01 am
Hi my name is Rolan: I was in OSHA’S website and I guess I hit another key and your website came up, which was great!! I was reading your safety news alert letters and you print very interesting news and topics on safety, let alone I think you guys cover everything. Well any way like I said I was looking into OSHA to see if they could help me out. I don’t know who to turn to, I have no money to hire an attorney I don’t know the laws to well. I don’t even know If anything could be done! I worked for Fed Ex Freight out of Newark NJ. They dismissed me on Feb,7/2011 because they said that I refused work. REASON; I drive a tractor trailer for Fed EX and I work local pickup/delivering freight. That day I came to work and I started at 0900am I was told to work on the dock,then go out and work local.when I came back my supervisor Thomas Nicholson and Mr Young told that I had to go on a road/trip to N. Harrisburgh P.A, I told them that I had worked all day and I still did not take my lunch and my break, and by the time I would drive back to Newark N.J I would be Tired/Sleepy/Fatigue/ because its over a 300 mile trip. I said to them that no was not going I was willing to stay working local but not on a trip like that I told MR Nicholson that was very unsafety and an accident wait for you. Yes they fired me and they have made it impossible for me to even get unempolment benifits. They talk so much about safety/movies/driver fatigue/safety in the work place its all just to make them look good. Need Help!!!!!! ThANK YOU. Rolan