NTSB Issues Highland IL Motorcoach Crash Recommendations, ABA & BISC Takes Lead in Working for Improved Safety Preparedness
During a public hearing on May 20 related to a fatal motorcoach accident in Highland, IL in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators and board members discussed multiple safety issues in this collision. These included:
- Motorcoach driver fatigue
- Deficient driver oversight, including lack of a progressive discipline policy, lack of adequate record-keeping, and lack of policies for implementing driver monitoring systems
- Insufficient federal guidance on safety management, driver coaching, and fatigue mitigation
- Lack of seat belt use by the motorcoach passengers
- Crash risk from lack of truck parking availability along the National Highway System
As a result of this investigation, the NTSB is issuing 11 new recommendations, and 2 reiterated recommendations to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Coalition on Truck Parking, the American Bus Association and the United Motorcoach Association.
ABA & BISC recommends the following for all motorcoach operators to consider adding to their safety and compliance programs:
- Develop and implement a fatigue management program based on the North American Fatigue Management Program to educate your drivers, dispatchers, and other employees about fatigue, its causes, and its countermeasures. The NAFMP website contains many free resources.
- Establish policies to require pre-trip safety briefings every time a driver changes, at every terminal before departure regardless of departure time, and every time the motorcoach takes on new passengers. This should include driver briefings to ensure they are aware of which states they will be driving through that have mandatory seat belt enforcement. You can find pre-trip safety messages here and here.
- Establish a written policy to proactively apply Safety Management Cycle processes beyond compliance reviews to assess the ongoing effectiveness of new safety policies and technologies after they are adopted. The Bus Industry Safety Council (BISC) has done several presentations on the Safety Management Cycle; you can download one here.
Review the findings from this crash with other ABA members about the Highland, Illinois, crash and urge them to develop fatigue management programs based on the North American Fatigue Management Program.
Join us for a special presentation on these topics at the Summer BISC Meeting in Minneapolis, August 19-21, 2025. Register today!
