Calls for new regulation mount as limo crash victims mourned

[Rhiannon12866]

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. (AP) — The day after a mourning community said last goodbyes to eight of 20 victims of a limousine crash — four sisters and four other relatives — the Senate's top Democrat called on federal regulators to formulate new safety standards for the vehicles.

Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday pointed to glaring gaps in safety data and singled out the National Transportation Safety Board, which he said hasn't thoroughly investigated a limousine crash in three years.

His criticism comes a week after the stretch limo loaded with 18 people on their way to a birthday party for one of the occupants ran a stop sign and crashed at the bottom of a hill in the town of Schoharie. Everyone in the limo died, including the four sisters, along with two pedestrians.

"The sad fact here is that right now everyone is talking about limo safety when we could have been studying it for the past few years," Schumer said. "The NTSB knows they need to fix this situation so we can have as much information as possible available."

At a news conference, he called on the NTSB to investigate every stretch limo crash that has occurred in the U.S. and use the data to make recommendations for safety standards that would then have to be implemented by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.


Read more: https://poststar.com/news/state-and-regional/calls-for-new-regulation-mount-as-limo-crash-victims-mourned/article_fed1e11e-11b8-54b6-87c2-31d5598e5d5a.html



Members of the National Transportation Safety Board work at the scene of yesterday's fatal crash, in Schoharie, N.Y., Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

[The Conductor]

1. Old saying...

Railroads were known to have extensive rule books, with rules even down to exactly where you had to stand during a switching move. An ex-railroader once questioned one of these detailed rules, and one of the old timers leaned over and said, "Son, every rule in that book was written in blood." Someone got hurt or killed for that rule to exist.

It's pretty much the same for all those pesky "government regulations;" we are far better at reacting to tragedies than preventing them.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. That is an excellent point

And now we have Trump eliminating safely regulations that were implemented because people died.

[TexasTowelie]

3. When the feds won't step up to the plate, the state has to.

Senate introduces regulations for stretch limousines

ALBANY - New regulations for stretch limousines are being proposed in the state Senate in response to the crash that killed 20 people in Schoharie last week.

The legislation introduced on Friday by Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat, would require stretch limousines be taken off the road after 10 years, create new procedures if a vehicle fails a safety inspection, impose a minimum liability insurance coverage of $2 million, and display inspection results on the state Department of Transportation website.

It would also mandate a "license plate" sized sticker on a passenger door indicating the date of the last successful vehicle inspection, with the sticker replaced by a sticker indicating the vehicle can't transport passengers if it fails an inspection.

"While many limousine operators take the safety of their passengers and drivers seriously, there seems to be a certain population of operators that does not," reads the bill memorandum. "In an effort to cut corners, they put their passengers and drivers at risk."

Read more:
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Senate-introduces-regulations-for-stretch-13303923.php

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Good and necessary effort!

It's just a tragedy that it took an accident that killed 20 people to bring this to light. I thought that all vehicles were required to undergo regular inspections - and that there were serious consequences for ignoring it. But I've learned that's not true everywhere which is scary as hell!

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Police: All 20 limo crash victims died of 'severe traumatic blunt force injuries'

WASHINGTON — State Police said all 20 victims in the fatal limousine crash in Schoharie on Oct. 6 died as a result of “severe traumatic blunt force injuries,” according to autopsy reports.

State Police reported Dr. Michael Sikirica of Albany Medical Center performed all the autopsies from the crash at the intersection of routes 30 and 30A.

State Police said they’re still awaiting the results of toxicology tests, including for the driver, 53-year-old Scott Lisinicchia of Queensbury. Officials have said he wasn’t properly licensed to drive the vehicle, which state police said was “unserviceable” at the time of the crash.

Eighteen of the victims were inside the limousine while two others were killed in the parking lot of a popular tourist destination.

The investigation into the crash is continuing and the limo company’s operator, Nauman Hussain, 28, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Meanwhile, federal safety investigators have been unable to conduct a full examination of the limousine because local prosecutors are probing it as part of their case against the limo company’s operator.


Read more: https://poststar.com/news/state-and-regional/police-all-limo-crash-victims-died-of-severe-traumatic-blunt/article_3e840903-1705-52d0-93a0-e9bbe948d064.html