U.S. Urges Checks on Day-Care Drivers

Child-care centers should require background checks for drivers who transport children and should stop using 15-person vans that are susceptible to rollovers, federal safety investigators said Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board made the recommendations in a report on a van crash that had killed four children and the driver in Memphis, Tenn.

The board said state agencies in charge of overseeing child-care centers should require criminal background checks, medical examinations and drug testing for drivers.

The 2002 Memphis crash occurred when driver Wesley Hudson, 27, lost control of the 15-passenger van that was carrying children from Tippy Toes Learning Academy. It crashed into a highway bridge support.

The safety board concluded that Hudson had smoked marijuana the morning of the crash and fallen asleep at the wheel. He probably had an undiagnosed sleep disorder, investigators said.

NTSB investigators also found that the day-care center had ignored complaints from parents about Hudson’s marijuana use.

The board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the day-care center’s negligence and the driver’s inability to control the van.

“This was a shocking accident that did not need to occur,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said.

“That driver should not have been driving,” she said.

Under Tennessee state rules, Hudson should not have been driving a day-care van because he had a past conviction for marijuana possession.

In November, the former owner of the day-care center was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to reckless homicide and aggravated assault.

The government previously has warned that 15-passenger vans have a dramatically higher risk of rollovers when fully loaded and should be operated only by experienced drivers.