• Mike Forman •
• Originally published January 24, 2009 at 6:10 p.m., updated January 24, 2009 at 6:10 p.m.

The United States must close a loophole in federal law that allows sub-par buses on American highways.

This loophole led to the worst bus crash in Victoria County history. It accounts for more than half of all U.S. bus-crash deaths and further highlights problems flowing from the ever-volatile border with Mexico.

On Jan. 2, 2008, a bus left Monterrey, Mexico, passed through the Laredo checkpoint and crashed hours later in southeast Victoria County.

A Houston man died, a Victoria businessman permanently injured his back and 45 others suffered injuries ranging from severed limbs to road abrasions.

The bus, a 2005 Volvo owned by a Houston-based company, should never have gained entry to Texas highways.

The bus, built in Mexico, didn't meet U.S. safety standards. The narrow wheelbase and weak window design made the early-morning rollover, which ejected passengers through shattered glass, a disaster.

The bus lacked Texas registration, a citation issued a dozen times by the Texas Department of Public Safety before the crash.

Federal investigators found bus owners bypassed registering the bus in Texas, which requires strict inspections that reveal manufacturing flaws, by registering the bus in California. This West Coast state offers an easier road to registration.

With California registration in hand, owners could operate in Texas, which recognizes registration from other border states.

By skirting the law, owners used a $200,000 bus and avoided spending $400,000, the minimum cost of a bus built to U.S. standards.

Safety advocates proposed to close this loophole in 2002. Advocates proposed requiring buses to display labels that ensure they were built to U.S. standards. The Bush administration killed the idea.

Debbie Hersman is the National Traffic Safety Board chairwoman who led a public hearing in Washington, D.C., to explain federal findings.

"Before the Victoria crash, no one realized these vehicles did not comply with U.S. safety standards," Hersman told the Advocate. "We know about this bus because it was involved in an accident. But we don't know how many similar buses are entering the U.S., and to what extent they don't comply."

Federal investigators do know an average of 10 people die in U.S. bus crashes when buses are owned by, or driven by, companies or drivers who operated illegally in this country. Two people die on average in crashes on legal buses.

What's perplexing is the admittedly understaffed Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency whose inspectors examine buses entering the United States, claimed it could properly spot troubling bus flaws without requiring certification labels.

This agency's inspectors were absent from the Laredo checkpoint when the bus crossed into Texas in January 2008.

A federal investigation showed 15 border crossings, including the Laredo checkpoint, lack sufficient federal inspectors. During high traffic, inspectors can't examine each of the 3,000 buses that pass Laredo each month, they found.

The international bus system - which is also used as fronts for drug and human smuggling rings, as documented today on Page E1 - is yet another valve in the oft-dangerous pipeline that steers crimes from Mexico to Victoria.

We demand the federal government require buses operating in this country to display proof of proper manufacturing.

These buses use Texas and U.S. highways, endanger, injure and kill passengers and travelers. They provide further evidence that some in the federal government, who support free trade at all costs, are not suited to serve in the best interest of this country's people.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.

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