A crash that killed three passengers on a party bus on Interstate 64 in Williamsburg was caused by a fatigued truck driver working for a company that allowed its drivers to log excessive hours, a federal report concluded Wednesday.
The December 2022 crash occurred when a truck set to cruise control rear-ended a slow-moving party bus operated by Futrell’s Party Adventures. The crash killed three occupants of the party bus, with nine others sustaining serious injuries and 11 suffering minor injuries.
The truck driver, who worked for Triton Logistics Inc. of Romeoville, Illinois, was also seriously injured.
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In a report issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators concluded that the truck driver's cruise control was set at 65 to 70 mph when it collided with the bus, which was traveling at about 20 to 25 mph.
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The NTSB said Triton Logistics “created fictitious driver accounts for its vehicles’ electronic logging device systems that allowed drivers to exceed federal hours-of-service regulations and drive while fatigued.”
The report concluded that driver fatigue, enabled by the fictitious logs, caused the crash. According to the report, the 61-year-old driver had been driving for seven consecutive days and at the time of the crash was finishing up a trip from St. Louis, Missouri, to Chesapeake, Virginia. The report states that video from the tractor-trailer shows that the vehicle repeatedly drifted onto the shoulder of the highway in the three minutes before the crash.
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Triton did not respond to an email seeking comment, and a woman answering phones at the company's headquarters hung up when a reporter called asking if the company had a comment.
The report recommends that Triton do a better job of verifying the accuracy of drivers’ records and “implement a robust fatigue management program.”
The NTSB also recommended better state and federal oversight.
The report also found that the slow speed of the bus contributed to the crash's severity and may have been caused by a partially blocked prescreen fuel filter.
The report concluded that the bus carrier “lacked appropriate safety management practices, as demonstrated by the poor maintenance.”
The company did not return an email seeking comment Wednesday.
From the Archives: Interstate 64
07-19-1967 (cutline): Ready to roll--Beauty queens and convertibles were on hand July 19, 1967, when a section of Interstate 64 near Richmond opened. The lead car drove over a traffic counter cable.
08-13-1971 (cutline): Interstate 64
09-06-1966 (cutline): This permanent truck weighing station is on Interstate 64 about eight miles east of Richmond. Virginia Highway Department Officials expect the station to bring in $350,000 each year.
10-01-1972 (cutline): Roads such as Interstate 64 have cut Richmond commuting time to about 20 minutes.
03-02-1990 (cutline): The westbound lanes of Interstate 64 are closed as workers repair damage to the highway's Shockoe Valley bridge.
03-02-1990 (cutline): Traffic stop--This fracture in the Interstate 64 bridge over Shockoe Valley stopped traffic yesterday and today. C.F. Wallace (left), assistant resident engineer, and information officer Andy Farmer stood near the depression caused by damage to the bridge's substructure. Workers were trying to find out what caused the damage to the westbound span.
03-01-1990 (cutline): Bad break--State Transportation Department information officer Andy Farmer got up close yesterday to get a video record of damage to the Interstate 64 bridge over Shockoe Valley. The westbound span was closed to traffic.
Interstate 64--Highway Commissioner H.H. Harris said yesterday the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads has decided that Interstate Rt. 64 should be built along the northern route (heavy line). He said there is some question of the location between Lexington and Clifton Forge (see lines), but this should be cleared up in a letter of confirmation from the bureau. The Virginia Highway Commission selected the southern route in June, 1959. Harris couldn't recall that the federal agency has ever before reversed a decision of the highway commission.
10-13-1967 (cutline): Interstate 64 looking west as it crosses Staples Mill Road.
05-20-1967 (cutline): Stretch of Interstate 63 West of Richmond gets steel mesh reinforcement. New construction technique is designed to prevent problem encountered on Interstate 95.
01-14-1966 (cutline): This stretch is part of the 10-mile section of Int. Rt. 64 which opened today. View is Eastward at Bottoms Bridge, with overpass carrying State Rt. 33 in the background.
10-18-1967 (cutline): Interstate 63 (foreground) as it crosses Mechanicsville Pike. Rear left is 64 viaduct, running parallel to 5th bridge.
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