The National Transportation Safety Board has issued eight new recommendations and reiterated two others in response to a November 2023 crash with a charter bus that killed six people and injured 18 others in Etna Township.
On Nov. 14, 2023, Jacob D. McDonald, of Zanesville, was driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 when it hit an SUV in front of him and a charter bus carrying 54 students and chaperones from Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools.
Three students — John Mosley, 18, Jeffrey Worrell, 18, and Katelyn Owens, 15, — died in the fiery crash, as did Dave Kennat, 56, Kristy Gaynor, 39, and Shannon Wigfield, 46, who were traveling in the SUV directly ahead of McDonald’s semitrailer and behind the bus carrying the students.
NTSB recommends 10 safety changes in 2023 Tuscarawas Valley bus crash report
In its report, the NTSB issued eight new recommendations and reiterated two others to agencies and organizations because of the crash.
The recommendations include improved federal guidance to states on how to manage traffic queues after crashes, communication between agencies that respond to them and better standards for collision avoidance technology and interior fire safety in commercial vehicles, according to the federal agency.
Specifically, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Highway Administration:
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Issue guidance that states consider more than just the duration of lane closures, such as vehicle location, number of lanes available; and that communication among agencies is critical.
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Revise its Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways to ensure definitions are consistent, emphasize the importance of communication and ensure queues are monitored.
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Update its Proven Safety Countermeasures to include more protections and effective communication strategies to provide drivers with more advanced warnings.
It also recommended that:
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration require installing systems in heavy commercial vehicles that detect when drivers are inattentive to the road and use signaling to bring their attention back to it.
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The Ohio Department of Transportation implement variable speed limits in areas where there are either high traffic congestion, crash rates or chance of a queue to form after a crash happens.
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The American Trucking, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers, American Bus and United Motorcoach associations, Amalgamated Transit Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Transport Workers Union of America inform members about the crash, “promote the potential safety benefits of in-cab alert technology to encourage owner-operators and carriers to use these systems” and “the safety benefits of collission avoidance technologies.”
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Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools update its process to choose operators that provide and require seat belts when the district searches for transportation options. That seatbelt requirement can help school districts “provide the maximum safety benefit to students.”
The report also reiterated two safety recommendations it previously issued to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
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Immediately develop and apply “performance standards and protocols for the assessment of forward collision avoidance systems in commercial vehicles.”
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“Adopt more rigorus performance standards for interior flammability and smoke emissions characterics already in use.”
Advocate reporter Josué Perez can be reached at jhperez@newarkadvocate.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: NTSB releases 10 ways to make highways safer after I-70 crash
