States advised to check day-care drivers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Child care centers should require background checks for drivers who transport children and stop using 15-person vans that are susceptible to rollovers, federal safety investigators said Wednesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board made the recommendations in a report on a van crash that killed four children and the driver in Memphis, Tenn.
The board said state agencies in charge of overseeing child care centers should require criminal background checks, medical examinations and drug testing for drivers.
The 2002 Memphis crash occurred when driver Wesley Hudson, 27, lost control of the 15-passenger van carrying children from Tippy Toes Learning Academy. It crashed into a highway bridge support.
The safety board concluded Hudson had smoked marijuana the morning of the crash and fell asleep at the wheel. He probably had an undiagnosed sleep disorder, investigators said.
NTSB investigators also found the day care center had ignored complaints from parents about Hudson’s marijuana use. The board determined the probable cause of the accident was the day care center’s negligence and the driver’s inability to control the van.
“This was a shocking accident that did not need to occur,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said. “That driver should not have been driving.”
Under Tennessee state rules, Hudson should not have been driving a day care van because he had a past conviction for marijuana possession.
In November, the former owner of the day care center, Sandra Gordon, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to reckless homicide and aggravated assault.
A business associate, Camelia Gibson, who owned the van and leased it to Tippy Toes, pleaded guilty to similar charges in September and also was sentenced to two years in prison.
Gordon’s son, Marcquon McCray, 8, and Gibson’s granddaughter, Brayna Robinson, 6, were killed in the van crash.
Also killed were Tika Bonner, 6, and Gerald Bonner, 9. Two other children were seriously injured.
The government previously has warned that 15-passenger vans have a dramatically higher risk of rollovers when fully loaded and only should be operated by experienced drivers. Anyone carrying 16 or more people for commercial purposes is required to have a commercial driver’s license, but no special license or experience is required for 15-passenger vans.
After the Memphis van crash, Tennessee enacted the nation’s strictest regulations governing transportation of children to and from day care centers. Vehicles must meet federal standards for school buses and drivers must pass ability tests. Children have to use safety seats, booster seats or seat-and-shoulder belts, depending on how old they are.
NTSB investigators said two of the children in the Memphis crash would have suffered less serious injuries had they been in booster seats.
Most states don’t require drivers to get physicals or special training, and 11 don’t require day care centers to use restraints when transporting children.
The National Child Care Association in Atlanta supports the use of buses rather than vans and training for drivers, executive director Lynn White said.
“School buses are being phased in, and rightly so,” White said. She noted that the federal government in 1998 banned dealers of new vehicles from selling anything other than a school bus to a child care center. But hundreds of thousands purchased prior to then still are on the road.
White said child care centers are phasing in new fleets, but it takes time.
“It would be just wonderful if we could all wave our magic wands and have $30,000 to put into a school bus instantly without fully depreciating the vehicles on the road,” White said.
The vans still are used by many churches, nursing homes and social organizations. Last year, the government removed some required safety features from school buses to encourage those groups to use them instead of vans.
———
On the Net:
National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov
To see animations of the Memphis crash: http://www.ntsb.gov/events/2004/Memphis/memphis—ani.htm