The National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency charged with investigating major transportation accidents, voted unanimously on April 21, 2009, to cite the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") for failing to implement recommendations that could lead to new safety equipment on buses, including seatbelts and stronger roofs and windows. They have been attempting to get the NHTSA to enact their suggestions since 1999.
A string of deadly bus crashes has led to more urget calls for action. It is absolutely ridiculous that the NHTSA has failed for ten years to enact rules that would save lives. Among the most recent fatal crashes:
January 6, 2008: A commercial bus with a driver and 52 passengers departed Telluride, CO, and ran off the highway near Mexican Hat, UT. The bus rolled once and 51 of the occupants were ejected. Nine passengers died and dozens were injured. The bus was being driven by a 71 year-old driver and was traveling approximately 90 m.p.h. The top was sheered off the bus, ejecting everyone except the driver who was wearing the only seatbelt on the bus, and a single passenger whose leg got stuck.
April 4, 2009: A shuttle bus carrying employees of the Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe veered off Interstate 80 near Floriston, CA, approximately 20 miles west of Reno. It went
through the guardrail before it rolled several times, killing one passenger and injuring twenty-seven others.
August 10, 2008: A charter bus in Sherman, TX, carrying Vietnamese-American pilgrims from Houston to a religious festival in Carthage, MO, crashed, killing 15 people and leaving 8 others in critical condition. A recapped tire was improperly placed on the steer axle. It was the only one of the ten tires that was recapped, and it was the only tire whose tread separated.
March 2, 2007: A charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team from Ohio, plunged off a highway overpass in Atlanta. It slammed onto Interstate 75 nearly 20 feet below, landing on its side. Seven passengers died.
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The stories and situations mentioned on this blog are for informational purposes only. The Burnett Law Firm does not claim to represent any party referenced in this post. This blog exists to raise public awareness of the very real dangers we face every day and to serve as a central location where information and opinions can be exchanged with regard to the way that the situations mentioned on this site are impacted by existing legal statutes.
