SACRAMENTO, Calif. Californias bus and motorcoach inspection program, long considered one of the most effective in the U.S., is being re-examined in the wake of the states worst intercity bus crash in at least 15 years.

Concerns have been raised about the state's ability to monitor the growing number of mom-and-pop coach companies that ferry thousands of gamblers daily to California casinos.

Triggering the concern was the fatal crash in early October of a casino-bound bus in Colusa County that killed eight people.

A coach operated by Cobb's Bus Service, carrying 43 people, tumbled into a watery ditch on a thin, straight stretch of rural road south of the Colusa Casino Resort. The bus was not registered with the state.

The incident has California Highway Patrol officials talking about reassessing their oversight practices.

"We would like to think people aren't lying to us and trying to hide stuff," said CHP spokesman Robert Kays. "We are looking for ways we can catch these rogue buses. We have the same concerns the public has; we want people to be safe on our highways."

Among the dead in the crash was Daniel Cobb, 68, the company's owner.

The CHP arrested the driver, 52-year-old Quintin J. Watts, on suspicion of driving under the influence. However, they later dropped the charges when blood- tests came back negative.

Officials also were looking into reports Watts fell asleep at the wheel. The rookie driver suffered significant injuries in the crash and was hospitalized.

Inspection requirements

State rules require regulators to conduct on-site inspections of bus companies and their drivers every 13 months.

California Highway Patrol officials declined to disclose when regulators last inspected Cobbs company and what they found. CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said the information was being withheld, for now, as part of the investigation into the crash.

At least one area newspaper has filed a formal Public Records Act request to obtain copies of any inspection documents.

California bus company inspections include maintenance reviews, and document checks on driver hirings, training and drug testing, said CHP official Greg Bragg, manager of the agency's motor carrier safety program.

More to check

The workload is getting heavier, and officials say part of it is because of the Indian gambling business.

Ten years ago, the CHP conducted 928 site inspections at bus yards statewide, Bragg said. Last year, the number had doubled to 1,818. But the number of CHP inspectors did not increase until this year, when it went from 205 to 243.

Inspectors "are running from truck to bus to truck to bus all day," Bragg said. Of 1,818 inspections last year, Bragg said the CHP issued unsatisfactory ratings to 245 companies and recommended the state Public Utilities Commission suspend three bus companies.

However, Mike Waters of the California Bus Association and Coach America in San Francisco, told a Sacramento newspaper the CHP isn't being tough enough.

"There doesn't seem to be a hammer out there, to come and just shut a carrier down," he said.

Since 2000, the actions of private tour or charter bus drivers have contributed to nine other fatal wrecks in California, according to one analysis of data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.