Relatives to respond to NTSB report on 2008 fatal motorcoach crash

MEDIA ALERT:  Transportation Safety Board to issue final report 
recommendations on 2008 Texas fatal motorcoach crash; Relatives and safety advocates to 
warn unsuspecting Americans about motorcoach dangers, call for swift 
federal action to protect nation’s bus passengers. 
WHAT:            MEDIA AVAILABILITY with relatives of motorcoach occupants 
killed on August 8, 2008, on U.S. 75 near Sherman, Texas, which resulted in 
17 deaths and 39 injured occupants.  The crash victims’ relatives will 
attend the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) public meeting where the 
final report and safety recommendations are expected to be issued. 
WHEN:            Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 9:00am ET 
(1) 9:00am: The crash victims’ relatives and vehicle safety advocates will 
provide statements to the media just before the 9:30am start of the NTSB 
meeting. 
(2) The relatives and safety advocates will provide reaction statements 
immediately after NTSB issues its final report and safety recommendations. 
WHERE:         Outside the Board Room and Conference Center of the National 
Transportation Safety Board, located at 429 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, 
DC 
WHO:              -- Dr. Yen-Chi Le (Houston, TX), daughter of deceased, 
Catherine Tuong Lam. 
-- Mr. Nghia Nguyen (New York, NY), whose sister-in-law’s father, Khiem 
Nguyen, died.  
-- Jacqueline Gillan, Vice President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 
 
-- Jerry Donaldson, Senior Research Director, Advocates for Highway and 
Auto Safety. 
BACKGROUND: 
On August 8, 2008, the crash of a 56-passenger motorcoach traveling on 
US-75 in Sherman, Texas, resulted in 17 deaths and 38 injuries.  The crash 
victims’ relatives and safety advocates will call for swift passage of the 
Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act (S.554 and HR 1396) to make long overdue safety 
upgrades to federal vehicle and driver safety standards, including seat belts, 
protection against dangerous motorcoach interior impacts, crush-resistant 
roofs, protection against fires, and occupant ejection prevention 
countermeasures, such as advanced glazing on windows, stability technology to  help stop 
rollovers, and better federal and state oversight of unsafe motorcoach 
operators.  The number of motorcoach crashes and fires reported since the 
Sherman, TX bus crash is 42, and there have been 50 since the Motorcoach Enhanced 
Safety Act was originally introduced in November 2007. 
The General Accounting Office (GAO) launched the investigation following 
the Sherman, Texas, crash and found that the bus operator had been 
"reincarnated" after being ordered off the road just weeks earlier.  The company 
re-registered using the same mailing address as its predecessor.  The GAO report (“
Reincarnating Commercial Vehicle Companies Pose Safety Threat to Motoring 
Public�??) found that nearly 10 percent of interstate bus operators who have 
their federal permits revoked for safety violations are able to quickly resume 
business by "reincarnating" themselves as new companies, and that 20 of the 
220 motor coach operators ordered to stop service by US DOT in 2007 and 
2008 remained on the road by re-registering under a different and sometimes 
same name.   
WHY:   In 2006, more than 630 million passengers took trips in motorcoaches 
-- almost as many passenger trips as U.S. commercial airlines carried that 
year.  Today, nearly 3,700 interstate motorcoach companies operate more than 
34,000 motorcoaches, and thousands of other motorcoaches operate in 
intrastate commerce.  Each year the number of new interstate-registered motorcoach 
companies increases by about 900. Yet, US DOT does not require that 
motorcoaches have many of the same basic occupant protection safety features that 
are routinely designed into passenger motor vehicles. 
DIRECTIONS TO NTSB BOARD ROOM:  Front door located on Lower 10th Street, 
directly below L'Enfant Plaza. From Metro, exit L'Enfant Plaza station at 9th 
and D Streets escalator, walk through shopping mall, at CVS store take 
escalator down one level. Board room will be to your left. 
MEDIA CONTACT:  Bill Bronrott, 202-270-4415; _bbcomm@aol.com_ 
(mailto:bbcomm@aol.com)