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Newly released documents are providing more information about a tour bus crash that killed five people and injured dozens on the State Thruway last August in Western New York.
The documents reveal that during an interview with the National Transportation Safety Board, the driver, Bin Shao, 56, told investigators a non-empty water bottle rolled to his foot at the front of the bus. He then went on to say he bent down to pick it up and throw it away, but it bounced out of the trashcan. That’s when he lost control of the bus, rolling off the Thruway near Pembroke, N.Y.
According to the documents, eight passengers who were interviewed said the driver did not do a pre-trip safety briefing. One said they thought they were told about emergency exit windows at the start of the trip but not how to open them and seat belts were not mentioned.
The NTSB also reveals there were only 59 seat belts for the 61 passenger seats on the bus.
The graphic below shows the path and location of the bus during a 12-second span. It shows the bus was traveling 71 miles per hour when it started to veer to the right, then was going 69 miles per hour when it hit the left shoulder after moving to the other side of the road.
The bus was traveling with 54 people on board from Niagara Falls back to New York City.
Shao has been charged with five counts of second-degree manslaughter and five counts of criminally negligent homicide.
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