CHICAGO (AP) — The 25-year-old driver who was at the wheel during a fatal Megabus crash in south-central Illinois says he did everything he could to control the double-decker after a tire blew out.

"When I heard the tire pop, I immediately grabbed hold extra tight to the steering wheel and let go of the accelerator. But I did not apply the brakes because I knew at highway speed it likely would have caused the bus to roll over," Preston Taylor told the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/QWP5il ) on Wednesday.

The disabled bus didn't react to attempts to steer it, Taylor said. It struck a bridge pillar along Interstate 55 near Litchfield on Aug. 2, killing one passenger and injuring nearly four dozen others.