More on the San Marcos-New Braunfels Mares Bus Crash
Additional information is slowly being released about last week’s tragic bus crash near the San Marcos outlet malls.
As I originally predicted, it appears that the crash was caused by driver fatigue. Police are now alleging that the driver, Jesus Basio-Ramirez, fell asleep while driving the bus.
I am not surprised at all. As I orginally wrote about the wreck, a majority of bus and trucking accidents are caused in part by driver fatigue. Given the time of the wreck, there was little doubt in my mind that fatigue played a major part in the wreck.
This is not the first problem for Mares, the company operating the charter. The company has received a number of safety citations, including citations relating to driver fatigue issues.
The federal government places a number of limits on drivers designed to minimize fatigue risks, including requiring drivers to keep logs of their driving to show that their companies aren’t forcing them to drive excessive amounts. Some of Mares’ previous violations are for having drivers drive longer than allowed by law and for not keeping accurate logs.
These types of issues are not uncommon. In investigations of bus and trucking accidents, it’s not unusual to find falsified logs or even drivers having two sets of logs so that they can drive more than allowed by law.
As I mentioned in my first post, all trucking and bus accident cases need to be properly investigated to determine if the company did anything to contribute to any fatigue issues. This type of conduct alleged against Mares — forcing drivers to drive excessive hours and not requiring drivers to keep accurate logs — is the type of conduct that is important to know and is typically the type of conduct that attorneys will miss if they treat these wrecks as big car accidents.
If you or a loved one is involved in a bus or trucking accident, please feel free to call us at (512)476-4944.
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