VIRGINIA — A commercial bus crash in Virginia killed five people and injured dozens of others around 2:30 a.m. ET, approximately five hours into a scheduled trip from New York to North Carolina. Jing Sheng Dong, the 48-year-old Staten Island driver involved in the collision, is facing five charges of involuntary manslaughter and one count of reckless driving.
Court records show Dong was previously convicted in 2024 for driving 73 mph in a 55 mph zone in Virginia, and received a ticket in March for driving a motorcoach 72 mph in a 50 mph zone in Annapolis, Maryland. Federal regulations mandate a 60-day driving disqualification for operators convicted twice within three years of exceeding the speed limit by more than 15 mph. Pei Jie Lu pleaded guilty to a negligent driving charge related to the incident in September 2024.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash while the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration works to confirm whether New York followed proper procedures when awarding Dong a commercial driver’s license. "Federal investigators are looking into Jing Sheng Dong’s background, the company that hired him, and the school that trained him," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
Commercial buses in the United States do not have collision-avoidance technology or automatic emergency braking systems as standard equipment, though some companies have voluntarily installed the technology. A rule to require these systems in commercial buses and trucks was proposed in 2023 but remains pending. The NTSB has long recommended requiring collision-avoidance equipment, but the agency does not have enforcement power over its safety recommendations. Numerous safety recommendations for commercial vehicles have not been adopted, including stricter standards to reduce driver fatigue. Commercial buses have been required to have seat belts since 2016.
"The fact that there was one conviction and another citation and this driver is still on the road goes against industry norms and best practices in a pretty significant way," said Fred Ferguson, leader of the American Bus Association. The trade group represents about 40 percent of the 1,800 companies that operate approximately 50,000 motorcoaches in the United States and Canada.
"They never hit the heart of the problem and never go after the person who’s responsible, and the person that’s responsible for these things is the person that runs the company," said Ned Einstein, an expert witness. Einstein explained that drivers must take the shifts they are given while company owners set the schedules and operate the businesses.
Bus drivers are prohibited under federal law from driving more than 10 hours or working more than 15 hours without taking at least eight hours off to rest. Electronic logs are used to help enforce these limits, though there have been documented instances of logs being tampered with. The commercial bus industry is currently dealing with the impact of 10 percent tariffs, and the cost of a new motorcoach is approximately $650,000.