Bus Driver in Accident Was Within Duty Limit

Authorities piecing together the cause of a fatal Greyhound bus crash in Santa Maria, Calif., said Monday that though they believe the 63-year-old driver may have fallen asleep, they do not think he had been illegally overworked.

Although Samuel Henry Bishop, the Fresno-based driver, had been on duty for 11 hours before the Sunday morning crash, Greyhound does not appear to have kept him driving for more than the federal limit of 10 consecutive hours, officials said.

“They were in no ways or means out of bounds,� said Officer Reggie Julius, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol in Santa Maria.

Federal regulations for bus drivers allow on-duty periods of 15 hours, with no more than 10 straight hours behind the wheel.

Bishop had started his shift about 8 p.m. Saturday in Fresno and had driven from there to Los Angeles -- a ride that, according to Greyhound schedules, should have taken at most 5 1/2 hours.

At 3:15 a.m. Sunday, presumably after a break, Bishop got behind the wheel of another bus, heading from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He was scheduled to be relieved by another driver in San Luis Obispo.

But in Santa Maria, the bus carrying 44 passengers drifted off U.S. 101, slid down an embankment, flipped over and hit a tree. Dozens of passengers were injured and two died. Faro Jahani, 50, was a San Francisco businessman who had never ridden Greyhound before. Martha Contreras, 23, was a Santa Maria farm worker who was seven months pregnant.

Contreras, married just a year, had set up a new home in Santa Maria in recent months. Her husband, Augustin, also was on board when the bus crashed just a few miles from their stop.

“He was with her on the bus -- witnessed the whole thing, her death,� said Esteban Valenzuela, a Santa Maria attorney who is investigating the accident on Augustin Contreras’ behalf.

The husband placed his hands on his wife’s abdomen after the accident and felt their baby kicking, Valenzuela said: “He told me the baby was still in her, alive.�

The fetus did not survive.

Jahani had been in Orange County, checking on rental property. When he tried to buy an airline ticket home, flights were booked, his brother, Frank, said Monday. Before boarding the bus in Los Angeles, Faro Jahani was so anxious that he asked his brother to pray for him.

“He really didn’t want to take that bus,� Frank Jahani said.

Born in Iran, Faro Jahani immigrated to the United States when he was 15. He and his brother owned a restaurant and a steam-cleaning business. An avid athlete, he loved to windsurf and played tennis, soccer and football.

“He has so many friends and relatives who love him, adore him,� his brother said.

CHP officials on Sunday said that interviews with Bishop and a number of witnesses led them to believe that the driver may have fallen asleep.

At Greyhound company headquarters in Dallas, officials declined to discuss the accident, saying it was still under investigation.

However, spokeswoman Anna Folmnsbee defended the company’s safety record, saying that drivers receive extensive training in “fatigue management� and are scheduled for a minimum of nights away from home.

“We do what we can operationally to make sure that drivers get quality rest at home, in their own beds, instead of staying in motels,� she said.

The head of the union representing Greyhound drivers said Monday that overwork is not among the issues that generate the most conflict between the company and its 3,500 drivers.

“Greyhound has a terrific safety record,� said Bruce Hamilton. “You couldn’t argue that driver fatigue is a widespread problem.

“The union insists that drivers who are fatigued have a right to book off. And the company has a policy: If a driver says he or she is fatigued, then Greyhound doesn’t use them. You can’t have it any other way.�

Despite Sunday’s crash, transportation experts say riding a bus is one of the safest ways to travel.

Last year, 41 passengers were killed in bus accidents, compared with more than 30,000 people killed inside a car or light truck, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More than 4,000 people were killed on motorcycles.

“As a mode of highway travel, buses have a very good statistical record,� said Eric Bolton, an agency spokesman. “When you look at other vehicles, we see fewer fatalities for buses for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled.�

Greyhound Lines Inc. reported five fatal crashes and 92 injuries in the last two years, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Last year, Greyhound’s 2,309 motor coaches traveled a total of 242.1 million miles.

The company also has a better-than-average record for safety inspections, the agency said. In Santa Maria, the CHP said it spotted no mechanical defects in a cursory inspection of the wrecked bus.

A team of experts is to conduct a thorough examination Thursday.