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Improve Bus Safety by Eliminating Sudden-Death Overtime
Posted by Karen Traeger on Nov 14 2011
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By:  Bob Lucore

Intercity bus service in this country is built upon a low-cost economic model that is creating tragic consequences. Real solutions are needed to address the most important cause of passenger fatality: driver fatigue.

Recently a number of high-profile intercity bus accidents, resulting in at least 25 deaths and many more injuries, have drawn long-overdue attention to safety in this industry. Officials have responded by attempting to step up enforcement of existing bus safety regulations. Representative John Lewis (D-GA) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have introduced much-needed legislation to tighten enforcement of driver screening and improve other safety measures.

While these long-overdue efforts are welcome, a recent study by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) shows that the underlying problem of driver fatigue must be addressed for any solution to be effective.

National Traffic Safety Board statistics show that driver problems were responsible for 60 percent of fatalities in intercity bus crashes. Driver fatigue specifically was responsible for 36% of all fatalities. Fatigue is by far the leading cause of passenger death resulting in 36% of all fatalities.

The ATU Report argues that driver fatigue is the direct result of low-wages. A low-cost model has emerged since the industry was deregulated in the early 1980s. Cut-rate operators paying low wages are now common. Many drivers now have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet and as a result are exhausted when behind the wheel.

While regulations state that divers cannot exceed certain duty-hour limits without rest periods, in practice these regulations have been ineffective. Fly-by-night bus companies encourage drivers to doctor entries in their log books and stepped-up enforcement cannot effectively handle the problem. Even operators forced to shut down, can reenter the industry under another name, according to the president of the American Bus Association.

Many passengers would be surprised to learn that their driver is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA ensures that workers get overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours per week. ATU proposes amending the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2011 to extend coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to drivers in the industry. By ensuring that drivers receive pay for overtime, those working long hours would be adequately compensated. Log-book doctoring would decrease, drivers would be more likely to get well-deserved rest periods and there would be less need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

It is time to end the practice of keeping bus-fares low by cheating drivers out of fair compensation. Extending FLSA coverage to intercity bus drivers would decrease the economic incentives that presently lead to driver fatigue. As the ATU report puts it, “the best way to avoid collisions is to get a good night’s sleep.”
 

Bob Lucore, a long-time ADA board member, is the former Director of Research and Policy for the United American Nurses and has worked for the Teamsters and the Department of Economic Research at the AFL-CIO. . He taught economics for several years at Centre College and Colorado State University and is currently a research assistant and student at the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University.

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