Megabus (North America) - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

Below is a list of notable incidents and accidents involving Megabus vehicles (not counting Megabus vehicles operated by DATTCO or Concord Coach Lines on services to and from Boston, and services on the M25, which are operated separately).

• On September 1, 2008, a Detroit-bound M1 coach was pulled over by Michigan State police after officers noticed the bus swaying and speeding outside Benton Township, MI. Megabus driver Kenneth Lewis failed sobriety tests administered at the scene and was arrested. Lewis was found to have a blood alcohol level of .07, well above the .0015 limit for commercial bus operators. A replacement driver was brought in to bring the 30 passengers to their final destination. It was the first drunk driving incident in Coach USA history. Lewis was suspended from Coach USA.
• On December 10, 2009 at 3:20 a.m., a Toronto-bound M24 coach slid off the New York State Thruway, 3 miles past exit 49 in Lancaster, New York, just east of Buffalo. Eight passengers and the driver were taken to nearby hospitals with minor injuries. Poor visibility, blowing snow, high winds combined with an unsafe lane change contributed to the accident.
• February 23, 2010, around 5:00 p.m., Megabus driver Shervyle Pruitt struck and killed Wesley Krueger in Chicago, IL. Pruitt, 45, received citations for failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and reckless driving.
• On September 11, 2010, around 2:30 a.m., a Toronto-bound M34 double-decker coach missed an exit to the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, slammed into a railway overpass carrying the St. Lawrence Subdivision along NY Route 370 two miles farther away. Four passengers were killed---all in the front of the upper deck, which was crushed into the lower deck in the crash---and 17 others were injured.
• On October 21, 2011, at 10:08 p.m., a Megabus driver from Chicago, Carl H. Smiley, was arrested by an Iowa state trooper for drunk driving while transporting passengers from Chicago to Iowa City and Des Moines. The trooper pulled the driver over for failing to maintain a lane. Police records stated the driver “smelled strongly of an alcoholic beverage and admitted he had been drinking.” The driver also failed a field sobriety test.
• On August 2, 2012, a St. Louis-bound M5 service Megabus coach with 64 passengers slammed into a concrete bridge pillar on I-55 near Litchfield, Illinois. At least one passenger was killed.
• August 7, 2012, around 2:20 p.m., Megabus driver Shemeka Hudson struck and killed Donna Halstead near Canal and Adams in Chicago, IL.
• August 8, 2012, around 2:30 p.m., a Megabus traveling from Atlanta, GA to Charlotte, caught fire on Interstate 85 near Lavonia, Ga., today with all passengers being evacuated without injuries .

According to federal records, since August 2007, Chicago hub drivers have been cited 54 times by police: 21 times for not maintaining driver logs, 20 times for speeding, three times for following too closely, 2 times for improper lane changes, and 2 for windshield violations. There were 6 other violations of local laws. Also, New York hub drivers have been cited 29 times by police: 14 times for speeding, five times for not maintaining driver logs, two times for failing to obey a traffic control device, two times for defects (windshield cracked and other), and 1 time for falsifying a log book. There were 5 other violations of local laws. There have been four other accidents involving Megabus vehicles.

The safety of curbside bus services came under scrutiny after a 2011 crash in New York caused 14 fatalities. The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a six-month study and found that while bus travel was considerably safer than by car, curbside buses had seven times the fatality rates of traditional bus lines.