Small, low-fare curbside bus companies are involved in fatal crashes seven times as often as those run by traditional companies such as Greyhound and Peter Pan according to a federal study. The smaller companies often pick up their customers by the curb, saving the cost of maintaining a presence in bus terminals. The same study, conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, also showed that the federal agency in charge of oversight of buses is overwhelmed and understaffed, averaging one staff member for every 1000 companies. The report was done in the wake of a March 12th bus crash in New York that killed fifteen and injured eighteen
That crash involved a bus transporting gamblers home to New York's Chinatown from a Connecticut casino. The bus slid on its side and almost had the entire roof ripped off by a pole. The company that owned the bus was subsequently shut down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The report's findings indicate that fatal accidents were more frequent in small companies that are relatively new to the bussing industry. Starting in 2005, the study shows that smaller, curbside companies average 1.4 fatalities per 100 vehicles while conventional bus companies averaged only 0.2 fatal accidents per 100 vehicles. If you or someone in you know has been injured in a bus accident contact the Virginia bus crash attorneys and bus accident lawyers at Portner & Shure.
Leave a comment