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The official government statement is lengthier and the final version still to come, but it can be summed up in short, sad and sobering form: Several people didn't do their jobs and seven people on a motorcycle ride died.
You may recall reports of the terrible crash that occurred just before 6:30 p.m. on June 21, 2019, on U.S. Route 2 in New Hampshire. The National Transportation Safety Board has now finished its investigation of the incident and found plenty of problems that need to be addressed.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, age 23, was driving a 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 Tradesman crew-cab pickup truck owned by Westfield Transport of Massachusetts. The truck was pulling an empty trailer after Zhukovskyy had made his last delivery stop in Gorham, New Hampshire, and was heading back to Massachusetts. The group of 15 motorcycles, seven of them with passengers, pulled onto Route 2. They were members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, Marine veterans and their family members.
The truck crossed the double yellow center line and hit the lead rider. Instead of swerving back, the truck veered left, eventually smashing into six of the motorcycles before crashing into an embankment. The truck and two motorcycles caught fire. Five riders and two passengers died while seven other riders and passengers were injured.
To say it was an horrific scene of destruction is not an exaggeration and the NTSB found plenty of blame to go around.
Most of these facts have been reported before but the NTSB report puts the systems failures into a sad and worrisome summary. More than one person is to blame for the deaths and injuries.
- The driver: In ascribing blame, you have to start with Zhukovskyy, who remains in jail awaiting trial. State Police said he admitted using heroin and cocaine the day of the crash but said he was still "OK to drive." Police said tests confirmed the presence of those drugs, plus morphine and fentanyl.
- His employer: Westfield Transport hired Zhukovskyy just two days before the crash. They did not perform a background check or review his driving record before hiring him or they would been alerted to his history of drug abuse.
- The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles: About five weeks before the crash, Zhukovskyy was arrested for DUI in Connecticut. Connecticut officials notified Massachusetts both electronically and by mail, and by state law, Zhukovskyy's Massachusetts license should have been suspended. But those out-of-state reports were never acted on by the MRMV. If they had, Zhukovskyy would not have had a valid commercial driver's license to get the job at Westfield. The head of the MRMV later resigned.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: Despite violations by Westfield, the FMCSA, which regulates the industry, did not take action against the company. The NTSB found that the problem wasn't that the FMCSA didn't follow its procedures, but that its procedures were inadequate.
“This horrific crash was avoidable at many levels," said NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt. "The pickup truck driver was impaired from the use of multiple drugs. The motor carrier had an egregious disregard for safety and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles failed to suspend the driver's license for an offense in Connecticut. There are systems to catch these things and they all failed."
Frankly, it's hard to find a positive in this story. The NTSB's suggestions for improvements, based on what was learned from this incident, is about the best we can hope for.
