ATLANTA - Attorneys representing individuals injured and killed in a Greyhound bus crash nearly four years ago have charged that Greyhound failed for years to adequately protect its drivers from attacks by passengers.

In court documents, attorney Quinton Seay says there were about 60 incidents across the U.S. involving passengers attacking drivers or fighting for control of Greyhound buses between May 1997 and October 2001.

"We were shocked when we determined how many incidents there were," said attorney Andrew Berke of Chattanooga, Tenn. "They were having attacks on drivers at a rate of over one every three weeks.

"Unfortunately, Greyhound failed to tell its drivers about these horrible attacks, so they were unaware what to do when there was a disturbance aboard the bus," Berke told The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Both Berke and Seay are suing Greyhound on behalf of clients killed or injured in the crash.

It was on October 4, 2001, when a Greyhound coach carrying more than 30 passengers flipped on its side after a passenger slit driver Garfield Sands' neck with a box cutter.

Sands collapsed and his coach, traveling at about 70 miles per hour, crossed a median on I-24 near Manchester, Tenn., and ended up on its side. In all, seven people were killed, including the attacker. Sands survived.

The incident received widespread media attention at the time because it occurred less than a month after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Seay told the Journal Constitution that "Greyhound was aware that their bus drivers were vulnerable to attack and interference by its own passengers but chose not to respond to this threat."

Berke charged that there were "systemic" safety problems on Greyhound coaches. He accused Greyhound and MCI of failing to install seat belts and driver shields to protect drivers and passengers.

The newspaper reported that court records filed by the attorneys show Greyhound had considered installing safety shields around its drivers but dropped the idea in 1998.

Less than a year after the Tennessee incident, a man stabbed a Greyhound driver, causing a wreck on Interstate 5 north of Coalinga, Calif. That incident also resulted in the coach flipping and two women passengers being killed. (See July 1 issue of Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Less than a year after that, Greyhound received its first grant from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to begin installing acrylic plastic shields to protect drivers and prevent attacks. (See Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, 2003 issues of Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Contacted by the Journal Constitution, Warner Fox of Atlanta, an attorney for Greyhound, declined to discuss the attacks on Greyhound drivers and the number of incidents. "We don't believe cases should be tried in the press," Fox told the newspaper.

In court documents, however, Fox argues that the attack in the Tennessee incident was unforeseeable and something the driver couldn't control.