Authorities have said that lack of sleep, speed and not using seatbelts were all factors in the crash that injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed fellow comedian James McNair.
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the truck driver’s fatigue was the main reason for the crash and that the nonuse of seatbelts exacerbated the injuries suffered.
The board found that the night before the June 2014 crash, the Walmart truck driver drove 800 miles overnight from Georgia to Delaware.
“Hours-of-service rules cannot address what drivers do on their own time,” said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “This driver had been on duty 13 ½ hours of a 14-hour workday, but had been awake more than 28 hours at the time of the crash.”
As we previously reported, Morgan and his friends were traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike last year when their limo was rear-ended by the truck. The 30 Rock star suffered from a serious brain injury and broken bones and spent months rehabbing. He reached a settlement with Walmart in May.
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