A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing highlighted the need to address significant gaps in the application of safety regulations governing the transportation of migrant farmworkers following a deadly crash between a modified school bus and a tractor trailer.
One problem in the Florida crash was that Billy R. Evans Harvesting, whose federal operating authority was ultimately revoked following the crash, for 21 state and federal safety violations, was regulated for transporting workers within a state rather than between states. Farming companies often transport migrant workers at night to avoid federal regulatory enforcement, investigators said.
In its resulting 14 recommendations, the NTSB also encouraged the continued outreach to niche and marginalized transportation communities like migrant farm workers by the American Bus Association and other industry leaders. Specifically, the NTSB noted the successes in regulatory and targeted compliance outreach that ABA’s Hispanic Motorcoach Council has had in bringing this essential information to Spanish-speaking motorcoach operators in the border regions.
Click here to view this and other NTSB recommendations to help avoid similar crashes in the future.