In his third installment about “Bus Lag” in National Bus Trader magazine, Transportation Alternatives President Ned Einstein cited an accident that occurred at the start of a driver’s second consecutive legal shift  — a shift that appeared to be legal even the accident investigation team simple because, with his first trip segment’s logs never examined or technologically recorded, the driver simply discarded them when his first trip segment was completed, and before beginning his second seven-hour return trip. Without evidence from the logs of his first trip segment, it appeared to the investigators that his second trip segment was simple his first. So when he plowed, at full speed, into the rear of a pickup truck stopped in a construction zone on a freeway, less than an hour from his trip’s destination, it was presumed to be legal. The article about this accident may be viewed in its entirety at www.transalt .com –  “Bus Lag, Part 3: The Invisible Log,” or read it, in hard-copy form in the November, 2014 issue of National Bus Trader magazine.

This article involves a number of elements that often combine to contribute to bus lag:

• Motorcoach operations
• Charter service
• Scheduling
• Use of Manual Driver’s Logs
• Driver assignment
• Driver/motorist fatigue
• Management
• Operations
• Regulations

A short essay about “Fatigue and Catastrophic Accidents” may be viewed at www.transalt.com: Click on the link “Common Accident and Incident Scenarios” on the Home Page, scroll down to the link titled “Fatigue and Catastrophic Accidents” (or enter https://transalt.com/content/fatigue-and-catastrophic-accidents).