Safety board suggests guides for day-care transportation

? Child care centers should require background checks for drivers who transport children and 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 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 carrying children from Tippy Toes Learning Academy. It crashed into a highway bridge support.

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

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

“This was a shocking accident that did not need to occur,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said. “That driver should not have been driving.”

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 only should be operated by experienced drivers. Anyone carrying 16 or more people for commercial purposes is required to have a commercial driver’s license, but no special license or experience is required for 15-passenger vans.

After the Memphis van crash, Tennessee passed the nation’s strictest laws governing transportation of children to and from day care centers. Vehicles must meet federal standards for school buses and drivers must pass ability tests. Children have to use safety seats, booster seats or seat-and-shoulder belts, depending on how old they are.

Most states don’t require drivers to get physicals or special training, and 11 don’t require day care centers to use restraints when transporting children.