NTSB cites driver fatigue as cause of turnpike accident that injured comedian
The crash has similarities with other truck accidents and raises safety concerns about how these large vehicles are operated in work zones, according to the NTSB.
A worn out Wal-Mart truck driver failed to slow down despite a warning and was responsible for a highway crash last year that severely injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. The accident occurred at 1 a.m., when the human body craves sleep, he said.
Roper’s “decision to drive 800 miles overnight” before his shift was “a factor in the crash”, NTSB senior accident investigator Dennis Collins said today.
Though Walmart provided fatigue information during its driver training, it was not required to have a fatigue management program, the NTSB said.
The crash, which left Morgan and others severely injured and comedian James McNair dead, sparked a firestorm of debate over truck operators’ hours-of-service limits last summer and almost derailed attempts by Congress to rollback some 2013-implemented rules governing the use of a driver’s 34-hour restart.
“The passengers… had no available exits until emergency responders removed part of a plywood panel that had been installed between the passenger compartment and the cab”, NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said at the meeting in Washington.
The driver of the van was not wearing a seat belt and only one of the six passengers was strapped in, allowing them to be thrown around inside at the time of the impact.
Indeed, it took almost 40 minutes for first responders to extricate some of the victims from the limo. NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said a cosmetologist in New Jersey has to have more training than an emergency worker. Morgan suffered head trauma, a broken leg and broken ribs, and was in a coma for two weeks.
Morgan, a former “Saturday Night time Stay” and “30 Rock” star, and the others have been coming back from a present in Dover, Delaware.
In May, Morgan and two friends injured in the crash settled a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for an undisclosed amount.
The truck driver, Kevin Roper, faces charges of vehicular homicide and assault by auto and is awaiting trial in New Jersey. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company settled a wrongful death claim filed by McNair’s children for $10 million, according to court papers.
Utilizing a cane, Morgan made his first public look this June on NBC’s “Right now” present and stated he hoped to renew his profession however that he wasn’t 100 % healed. He hasn’t performed since the accident.