TRANSIT EXECS SEEK BETTER BUS PLAN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Following a bus crash that killed 22 people and
raised questions about the driver's health and drug history, experts
say a national database could help keep dangerous drivers off the road.

Enforcement officials also have to do a better job inspecting bus and
trucking companies to weed out bad drivers, said Stephen Sprague,
chief operating officer of the United Motor Coach Association, which
represents 800 bus companies.

``There is a certain small core of drivers who are not very
responsible and can move easily to another employer and find their way
to the road,'' Sprague said. ``Once the information is more
accessible, we believe some of those who should not be driving
commercial vehicles will leave the profession.''

Frank Bedell, 46, was driving the Custom Charters bus that went off
Interstate 610 in New Orleans on May 9 during a gambling trip to a
Mississippi casino, killing 22 of the 43 mostly elderly passengers.
Bedell was seriously injured in the crash and remained hospitalized
today.

Following the crash, authorities uncovered evidence showing Bedell had
congestive heart disease, had lost two bus-driving jobs because he
used marijuana, had failed a test for cocaine and was undergoing dialysis.

Only 12 hours before the crash, Bedell received treatment in a
hospital emergency room for dehydration and extremely low blood
pressure. In addition, tests found traces of marijuana in Bedell's
blood after the crash, National Transportation Safety Board
investigator Ken Suydam said last week.

Although NTSB officials say Bedell should not have been driving, they
say it is not clear whether his health problems or drug use
contributed to the crash.

The case shows that information about Bedell's history never made it
to authorities who could have prevented him from driving. In his
personnel file was a report by a doctor showing he had congestive
heart disease -- a condition that should have kept him from driving
commercially.

State and federal authorities who handle commercial vehicle
enforcement apparently never checked the company's driver records over
the last nine months.

Nationwide, most commercial vehicle enforcement focuses on the safety
of the buses and trucks -- not the drivers. Almost all of the money
supplied to states by the federal government for enforcement is used
for roadside inspections of buses and trucks, said Victor Parra, the
motor coach association's chief executive officer.

But 95 percent of all commercial vehicle accidents are caused by human
error, Parra said.

He said the statistics and the New Orleans accident -- in which
investigators have uncovered no evidence to indicate mechanical
failure -- show that more investigative attention should be focused on
companies and their drivers.

Doing so could get unqualified drivers off the road and prevent
accidents, Parra said.

``This accident is a perfect example,'' he said. ``They have found
nothing wrong here with the equipment. Clearly the issue here appears
to be the driver.''

NTSB officials said Bedell was fired as a bus driver in New Orleans
and in suburban Jefferson Parish because he had marijuana in his
system and failed drug tests.

Bedell also tested positive for cocaine when he applied for a job with
Greyhound in April 1997 and was not hired, Suydam said.

Two months later, Bedell gave the results of his Greyhound physical to
Custom and passed another drug test at that time. He also passed
successive random drug tests required by Custom in April 1998 and
October 1998.

Bedell took another physical examination in August 1998 while employed
at Custom, Suydam said. In a form he was required to fill out, Bedell
checked ``no'' alongside every listed illness, including diabetes,
with which he was diagnosed in 1995, and cardiovascular disease,
Suydam said.

But when asked by the attending physician if he was taking any
medications, Bedell ticked off a list of medicines that led the doctor
to conclude he had congestive heart failure, Suydam said.

The doctor approved Bedell's fitness for driving, Suydam said, despite
a federal law that bars people with congestive heart failure from
holding commercial drivers' licenses. However, the doctor also wrote
``congestive heart failure'' atop the form that was returned to
Custom, Suydam said.

It was uncertain whether Custom officials saw the notation or what, if
anything, they might have been required to do, Suydam said.

Custom president Donna Begovich said in a statement Thursday that she
was shocked to learn Bedell tested positive for marijuana after the
crash.

``Of course, Custom had no way of knowing Frank's drug usage at any
time,'' Begovich said. ``Frank Bedell passed his pre-employment drug
test, the city's drug test, a police background check and three
subsequent random drug tests within an 18-month period. What else
could we have done?''

Custom officials also have said that the bus companies Bedell worked
for previously never informed them he had failed drug tests.