New York Bus Accident Lawyer - New York State Attempts to Reduce Bus Accidents

 

Lately bus accident incidents have been making the newspaper headlines and main story on television. Not that bus accidents are just starting to happen; however, the deadly New York tour bus crash on I-95 in the Bronx brought the issue to a national audience. As you may remember, said accident occurred on March 12, 2011 when a tour bus carrying 31 passengers on their way from a casino outing at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut crashed killing 15 passengers and severely injuring several others.

In wake of the spotlight on tour bus accidents in New York State and around the country, NY Governor Cuomo ordered random roadside checks of buses on New York roads. Per the Governor, "...bus drivers who don't follow the rules as well as buses that are unsafe must be taken off the road so that New Yorkers can have confidence in the safety of the public transportation system." The crackdown by the Governor led to numerous bus drivers and buses being taken off New York roads. One would think that with the increased press on the Bronx bus tragedy, operators would heighten their own inspection of their buses and make sure that drivers satisfied all the necessary requirements to operate these buses. However, as the random roadside checks found, defective buses were still in operation. Plus drivers without the proper licenses were still operating these buses. For example, one such random check found a bus from Pennsylvania that had bad brakes, leak in the brake hose among other safety violations which could have resulted in another deadly crash. Incredibly, the bus driver did not have a commercial license which is required to operate such a vehicle.

In additional to random checks by police and department of transportation inspectors, New York State has taken an additional step to reduce to number of bus accidents on New York roads and highways. The NY state senate recently passed a bill that requires criminal background checks, including fingerprinting, on all newly hired bus drivers. Bus drivers who currently have a commercial license would need to submit to the criminal background check once their commercial licenses comes up for renewal. This requirement is already in force for school bus drivers. Per the bill's sponsor, "bus drivers literally hold their passengers' lives and safety in their hands. Those passengers should be able to trust that the driver is qualified to handle that responsibility." According to an experienced New York bus accident lawyer, the new law should make New York roads safer and reduce bus accidents which may cause serious bodily injury and even death.