BUS INDUSTRY: SYSTEM NEEDS CHANGES

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.

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.

Although officials with the National Transportation Safety Board 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 medical 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, said Ken Suydam of the NTSB.

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.