HIGHLAND, Ill. – The National Transportation Safety Board has released new information on its continued investigation of the deadly Greyhound bus crash on Interstate 70 in Highland, Illinois, on July 12, 2023.
Three passengers were killed and a dozen others were injured, including the driver, when the bus collided with three tractor trailers parked along the shoulder of an exit ramp near the Silver Lake rest area.
The NTSB is quick to point out this is an ongoing investigation and not its final report. But the items the NTSB has gathered to this point do provide an eye-opening look at the driver’s history and what passengers say happened the day of the crash.
The NTSB recently released hundreds of documents, including interviews it conducted with passengers after the crash. One passenger told investigators the driver, Raymond Paradise, kept hitting rumble strips on the side of the road and recalled him driving down the middle of the road, in between the two lanes. Another passenger said he observed Paradise wasn’t trying to correct the path of the bus whatsoever. Adding he saw the back of the tractor trailer and immediately knew they were going to hit.
The agency obtained internal records from Greyhound. They show Paradise was in four other crashes prior to the July 2023 crash in Highland. Greyhound classified two of those crashes as “preventable.”
One of the “preventable” crashes occurred in May 2018 on a Greyhound route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. According to the California Highway Patrol traffic collision report obtained by the NTSB, Paradise rear ended a semi-truck that had slowed due to traffic conditions. Nine passengers were hurt. One of the passengers interviewed by state troopers said the bus started weaving and slowing down, saying the bus would drive over rumble strips and that Paradise “must have been tired.”
The crash report listed Paradise as being “fatigued” and “driving at an unsafe speed for traffic conditions.” The report does not show Paradise was cited for these violations.
The NTSB investigated Greyhound’s use of DriveCam, a driver monitoring system that uses inward and outward facing cameras to capture risky driver behaviors in real time. Records obtained by the NTSB show Paradise had 71 DriveCam events in the 365 days prior to the Highland crash, including 16 for following distance, 12 for speeding, seven for braking and three for critical distance. The NTSB found Paradise was included in the May 2023 “Top Drivers of Interest” report generated by Greyhound. It tracks and ranks drivers who display the riskiest behaviors each month.
The NTSB also released documents it found in Paradise’s Greyhound disciplinary file. The agency says the file contained 11 written reprimands, but only three were listed in his human resources record. NTSB Investigators found nine infractions were not recorded on the Greyhound HR form, including both of the “preventable bus crashes” The NTSB found Paradise’s HR form was missing all written disciplinary actions after February 2019.
Greyhound officials told the NTSB a new system used to convert electronic files did not include Paradise’s disciplinary records. When questioned about the records, Greyhound officials told the NTSB Paradise’s files were either lost or compromised during the relocation of the new St. Louis terminal.
The NTSB claims that it made numerous attempts to speak with Raymond Paradise, noting that he is both a civil and criminal attorney. The interview had not happened at the time the report was filed.
The NTSB tells FOX 2 that its final report will contain analysis, the probable cause of the crash, and any contributing factors, as well as any recommendations for actions that would prevent it from happening again.
That final report could be released at any time in the next year. We’ll be sure to let you know when that happens. FOX 2 contacted Greyhound for this story. A representative told us it’s company policy not to comment on ongoing investigations.
