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Archive for the ‘Bus Accidents’ Category

Woman killed in bus crash

Monday, May 16th, 2011

A woman on a passenger bus bound for McAllen, Texas was killed near the city of Victoria when the driver tried to avoid a pickup and crashed into a nearby light pole. 13 others were injured in the fatal bus wreck.

Witnesses on the scene said that the accident happened so fast, the bus driver didn’t have time

Trooper Gerald Bryant of the Texas Department of Public Safety identified the fatality as Juanita Lopez-Perez, 53, of Matamoros, Mexico. She was traveling alone.

Bryant said the driver of the 24-passenger Valley Transit reportedly tried to avoid a Chevrolet pickup that was towing another vehicle. The bus then swerved and smashed into the metal light pole, Bryant said.

At least 13 people with various injuries were taken to the emergency rooms at hospitals in Victoria. The extent of the injuries and the identities of the other victims were not immediately available.

The bus driver, Ruiz, said he was OK and was wearing a seat belt.

The accident happened between 5 and 7 miles south of Victoria. The crash occurred about 9 p.m. as the pickup driver was turning north onto U.S. 77 from Fleming Prairie Road and reportedly did not see the bus, Bryant said. Traffic backed up in the southbound lanes for miles as rescue workers cared for the injured, many of whom were helped out of the bus through its emergency hatch in its roof.

Source: The Victoria Advocate

Fatal bus crash prompts calls for investigations; driver 'not allowed licence'

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

The driver of a bus that crashed in New York City, killing 15 people, should not have been behind the wheel.

The Associated Press reported that, because of a driving suspension and several traffic violations, the driver of the bus in the fatal wreck should not have been allowed a license. His driving privileges were suspended in 1995 after he ignored tickets for speeding and driving without a license.

Crain’s New York Business reports that the tragic bus wreck has prompted federal officials to call for a wider investigation into the regulation of the discount bus industry and to determine whether more could have been done to prevent the fatal crash of the World Wide Tours bus.

The revelations prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo to launch a state investigation into how the driver was able to hold a valid commercial driver’s license at the time of the crash.

The coach, owned by World Wide Travel, was taking gamblers home to Chinatown, Manhattan, from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. The vehicle, carrying 32 people, was sheared in half by a sign pole after overturning on the highway.

The driver told police at the scene that the coach was clipped by an 18-wheeler but investigators found no evidence backing his story. Passengers contradicted his account and told officers that the bus driver dozed off at the wheel several times before the bus careened out of control.

World Wide Travel has declined to comment but a spokesman for the tour industry said that the safety record for discount bus is the same as for traditional, more regulated bus companies.

Texas Supreme Court rules for families of fatal bus crash

Monday, December 27th, 2010

The Supreme Court of Texas ruled this month that McClennan County jurors correctly blamed Motor Coach Industries Mexico for a 2003 crash that killed five on Interstate 35.

Jurors found that seat belts on a Central Texas Trails bus could have kept passengers inside and that laminated glass would have prevented fatal injuries. Federal regulations don’t require seat belts or lamination on motor coaches, but all nine Justices agreed that jurors followed common law without intruding on federal law.

Justice Eva Guzman wrote that the verdict “does not present any obstacle to the accomplishment of the federal regulatory scheme’s purpose.”

In 2003, friends chartered a Central Texas Trails bus to take them from Temple to Dallas for a concert. Near Waco, in rain and fog, the driver crested a hill and saw red lights. Traffic had stopped due to an accident. The driver of the bus attempted to change lanes to increase his stopping distance, but another car cut him off, so he steered into the earthen median and lost control of the bus. It crossed the median into southbound traffic and collided with a large sport utility vehicle, spun counter clockwise, and tipped over on its right side. The bus slid across the southbound lanes and came to rest in the ditch on the far side of the road.

Five died and others suffered injuries. The jury awarded a total of $17 million in damages.

In the opinion, Justice Eva Guzman wrote, “Given that no federal safety standard even discusses passenger seat belts in motor coaches, MCI’s preemption claim is predicated on regulatory silence. Regulatory silence will not preempt a state law absent a clear and manifest statement of intent to forbid all regulation in that area.”

She wrote that “an agency’s mere decision to leave an area unregulated is not enough to preempt state law.”

Source: Southeast Texas Record, Steve Korris