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TRANSPORTATION
NTSB says tire leak led to fatal bus crash
The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that a slow leak in a charter bus's front right tire led to a crash last year that killed 17 Vietnamese Americans.
The charter bus, with 55 passengers aboard, was on its way from Houston to a Catholic festival in Missouri. About 4 1/2 hours into the trip, the bus's tire blew out as the vehicle approached a curve on a bridge. The bus slammed into a railing and dropped off the bridge. The driver and 38 others were injured.
The safety board also said the weakness of the railing contributed to the severity of the crash.
"We've all been devastated and are dealing with the aftermath of a crash that was totally preventable," said Yen-Chi Le of Houston, who lost her 62-year-old mother, Catherine Tuong Lam, in the crash and attended the NTSB hearing.
The accident is one of a string of deadly U.S. bus crashes in recent years. The accidents have renewed calls for expanded federal oversight of the country's commercial bus industry.
-- Sholnn Freeman
U.S. to rethink rule on truckers' hours
The Obama administration has agreed to reconsider a rule that allows long-haul truckers to drive for up to 11 hours straight, bowing to safety advocates, who say that longer hours could lead to greater fatigue and more accidents.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration signed an agreement late Monday with safety and labor groups pledging to revise the rule, which became final in the waning days of the Bush administration.
For 60 years, truckers were allowed to drive up to 10 hours at a time. The Bush administration and the trucking industry wanted to let truckers have an extra hour of driving time. The rule also cut rest and recovery time at the end of a workweek from 50 or more hours off-duty to as little as 34 hours off-duty.
