Gov't Oversight Of Bus, Truck Industries Faulted

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal accident investigators called on Thursday for a probe of the government agency charged with ensuring the safety of commercial vehicles, saying their own look into four tour bus and truck crashes that killed 25 people raises "serious questions" about how well the agency is doing its job. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspectors failed to respond to red flags indicating significant safety problems on the part of bus and truck companies involved in accidents in California, Oregon, Kentucky and Tennessee, documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board said. Besides those killed, 83 other people were injured in the crashes, many of them seriously. In one crash, federal inspectors gave a California tour bus company safety clearance a month before one of the company's buses overturned near San Bernardino last February while returning from a ski resort. Seven passengers and a pickup truck driver were killed, 11 passengers were seriously injured and 22 others received minor to moderate injuries. Federal inspectors didn't ask to examine Scapadas Magicas' buses during their visit to the company's headquarters near San Diego even though the company's buses had been cited previously for a host of mechanical problems during spot roadside inspections. The bus was traveling too fast in poor weather, and the driver had the vehicle's transmission retarder engaged even though it isn't supposed to be used when roads are slick because it can cause wheels to skid, NTSB said. U.S.