Virginia bus crash that killed five involved driver who doesn't speak English, Sean Duffy says
A Virginia bus crash, killing five and injuring 44, involved driver Jing S. Dong, who doesn't speak English. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized English proficiency and licensing standards, prompting a federal investigation into Dong's commercial license and training.
A bus driver who does not speak English has been identified as the operator of a vehicle involved in a fatal crash in Virginia that killed five people and injured dozens more. According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the driver’s inability to communicate in English is “unacceptable” and has prompted federal scrutiny of commercial licensing standards. The incident occurred early on Friday when the E&P Travel bus, en route from New York to North Carolina, failed to slow near a work zone on Interstate 95 in Stafford County and collided with several cars.
Five people—including a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy from Massachusetts—were killed when their vehicle caught fire after being struck by the bus. Other victims included a 45-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, also from Massachusetts, along with a 25-year-old woman who was in the car immediately ahead of the bus. At least 44 others were hospitalized, with three in critical condition. The bus driver, Jing S. Dong, a 48-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen originally from China, was injured and is under investigation; police say charges are pending.
Dong received his commercial driver’s license in New York two years ago. Secretary Duffy, responding on social media, criticized the situation as emblematic of broader failures in driver qualification and English proficiency standards. “This is exactly why we are holding states accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can’t speak English,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus.”
The U.S. Transportation Department is now probing New York’s licensing records, training documentation, and the driver’s background, with a focus on any entity that may have enabled an unqualified driver to operate a commercial vehicle. Federal law requires commercial drivers to speak English sufficiently to perform their duties safely, a requirement that has been reinforced with new testing mandates announced by Duffy earlier this year. The Virginia State Police have not yet released further details, and an investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
