Injured bus riders fume driver was allowed behind wheel

Passengers injured in a fatal bus crash on the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway are pointing an accusatory finger at bus operator Egged after it emerged that driver Haim Bitton had been involved in a similar accident in the past.

“I don’t understand how they let him go back to driving. It seems they forgot they were talking about transportation for people and not animals,” Yanon Yazdi tells the Ynet news site.

Bitton crashed on the same route in 2013, also smashing into a truck and overturning the vehicle on the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv artery. Several passengers were injured in that incident, after which the Egged bus company banned him from intercity routes.The ban was only lifted a few weeks ago and he was permitted to drive the Jerusalem to Tel Aviv line once again, Channel 2 reported.

Six people died in the crash Sunday, after the 402 bus smashed into a truck parked on the side of the highway.

“I’m in shock over Egged’s behavior. It seems that only after this crash will they wake up to the need to pay attention to what they have with this driver,” Yitzhak Zev Even tells the news site.

Bitton was arrested Sunday night and he is suspected of obstruction of justice and negligent homicide, police said.

According to suspicions, after the crash he tampered with the vehicle’s tachograph, a device installed in public buses that monitors the driver’s speed and has a role similar to the black box on an airplane.

Egged says it cannot respond while the police investigation is ongoing.