The National Transportation Safety Board stated that a Walmart truck driver was severely fatigued, and failed to slow down, despite a warning, leading to the well publicized crash with Tracy Morgan’s limousine, on the New Jersey Turnpike, on June 7, 2014.
The driver drove through a 45 mph construction zone at 65 mph. The driver had been awake for the previous 28 hours.
The crash started a chain reaction that affected 21 people in six vehicles. The Walmart driver previously had numerous “critical event reports,” indicative of unsafe driving, while employed by Walmart.
A passenger in the Morgan vehicle was killed. Morgan sustained severe head trauma, and numerous fractures. Morgan and others settled their personal injury and wrongful death claims against Walmart.
Walmart stated that it would develop a fatigue management program, to educate drivers, dispatchers, managers and families about the need to report to duty refreshed. Walmart has approximately 6,000 trucks in the United States, logging millions of miles a year.