The biggest factor is driver error,
and it falls into two categories, one
of them is inattentiveness
and the others falling asleep or
drowsiness dozing.
But the two big factors involved the
driver himself.
Unfortunately, for Elwyn Baptist's of
the U.S. Department of Transportation,
driver Jimmy Thigpen is dead, leaving
only conjecture as to how the crash
happened. Babbitt's track records of Bus
97 and of Driver thig 10 and
found nothing out of the ordinary.
But he found that the bus left Irving at
seven a.m. on Wednesday.
To him, it indicated the bus may have
been on the road too long at the time of
the crash.
He could have he could have been in
violation.
The period of time that's involved,
he could have well been over the 15 hour
rule there.
Again, it would depend on how much time
that during this elapsed
time that he was not working
or driving the bus, like at
the time he was stopped when he was heavy
fuel pump repaired or replaced.
The repair took four to five hours in
Tallahassee, Talegaon, Oklahoma.
And Baptist speculates it may have forced
the victim to skip rest stops.
The company confirmed there was no
overnight stop and that the charger was
behind schedule for this delay
in Talenti caused him to go
into this terrain,
this rougher terrain at night, whereas
had he made the trip as scheduled,
he would have gone through that part of
the country in the daytime.
Earlier in the day, there was some
concern that central Texas bus lines did
not have insurance.
The Interstate Commerce Commission
computers in New York showed that its
policy was canceled in May, but the
company confirmed it did have a policy
with the guarantee.
Insurance company of Richardson, though,
declined to say if it was sufficient
enough to cover the casualties in
Arkansas. Emile Galiano, Channel 5
Action News, Dallas.