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14 Injured In Bus Crash On Pennsylvania Turnpike

It seems like every week there is a new bus accident in the eastern part of the country making headlines, which has raised questions as to the safety of the tour bus industry. This weekend, 14 people were injured when a Greyhound bus overturned on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the central part of the state.

The bus originated in New York and was on its way to St. Louis, Missouri when the accident took place. About 75 miles out of Philadelphia, at around 6 a.m., the bus was driving in the in the left lane when it stuck a center concrete barrier and then swerved right, going up an embankment before flipping over on its side.

There were 18 people on board the bus at the time, 14 of which were injured. All of the passengers were treated and released from a local hospital, and were eventually able to complete their journey to St. Louis.

A Greyhound spokeswoman told reporters that the driver of the bus had received positive performance evaluations in the past and had not been involved in any prior collisions while operating a Greyhound bus. However, it was reported that the 24-year-old driver had only been with the company since March.

Greyhound said that it is conducting an investigation in effort to determine what caused the accident. The Pennsylvania State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating as well. The investigation will include interviewing the driver and passengers and reconstructing the accident scene to determine how fast the bus was traveling.

As of yet, there has been no mention of driver fatigue as a cause of the accident, but it is certainly possible. A majority of these bus accidents, it seems, occurs in the early hours of the morning when our bodies are accustomed to sleep. The tour bus industry has also been criticized for sending drivers with little sleep on overnight trips.

If negligence, such as driver fatigue, played a role in the accident, the passengers could likely bring personal injury lawsuits against Greyhound for damages.

Source: 6abc.com, “Driver interviewed in weekend Pa. bus crash,” Aug. 15, 2011.