Dec 27, 2007 8:39 pm US/Central
Feds Force Tornado Bus Company To Cease Operations
The Federal Motor Safety Administration Declares Company "Imminent Hazard"
4 Died In Crash
DALLAS (CBS 11 News/ AP) ―
The federal government has ordered a bus company involved in a deadly crash last month to stop all operations.
The Federal Motor Safety Administration declared Tornado Bus Co., Inc., of Dallas an "imminent hazard."
"Based upon your present state of unacceptable safety compliance and your failure to adequately establish safety management systems and oversee your drivers' duty status and hours-of-service (HOS), your motor carrier operation poses an 'imminent hazard' to public safety," the FMCSA document stated.
On Nov. 25, a passenger bus driving in late-night rain veered across an interstate highway and collided with a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck, killing three people and the driver of the pickup. At least 21 others were hospitalized.
The bus was westbound on Interstate 40, headed from Chicago to Dallas, when it veered across the median. The bus slammed into the oncoming eastbound pickup, and then the 18-wheeler slammed into the bus, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
The FMCSA began a compliance review of the company the day after the crash. Records indicate it was the fifth such review of the company since 2001.
As a result of the previous reviews, the FMCSA fined the Tornado Bus Company for violating hours-of-service requirements and falsifying driver duty records. The fines totaled $63,090.
At the end of their most recent review, officials found the bus driver had again driven more hours than are allowed in a single trip and did not have a co-driver.
"Despite the imposition of these penalties, Tornado's method of operation remained unchanged. The immediate and severe hazard to safety stems from Tornado's egregious indifference to the hours-of-service requirements," the FMCSA documents stated.
Tornado's Web site is in English and Spanish and touts its routes to Mexico. It also advertises routes from Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.
Tornado. founded in 1985 in Houston, bills itself as "a major tour and charter transport company serving the Hispanic community in the United States and Mexico."
A spokeswoman for the agency leading the investigation said it is unusual for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue out-of-service orders.
"We put trucks or drivers out of service for various reasons but not necessarily an entire company out of service very often," agency spokeswoman Melissa Mazzella DeLaney said.
It is, however, at least the second Texas-based bus company ordered shut down since 2005. Federal regulators shut down Global Limo after a 2005 bus fire killed 23 nursing home patients fleeing Hurricane Rita.
Global Limo's owner, former NFL player James Maples, was convicted last year of maintenance and inspection charges -- poorly managing his fleet and not requiring drivers to fill out vehicle inspection reports. None of the charges were directly related to the deadly bus fire.
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