Bus crash in New York revives call for transportation safety measures

Bus Crash in New York Prompts Safety Review

The bus crash in New York earlier this month which claimed the lives of 15 people is the latest in a long list of fatal accidents involving buses in multiple U.S. states. Similar incidents in New Jersey and New Hampshire have also happened in recent weeks.

Travel safety governing buses and other public transportation have been the subject of debate over the years and the incident in New York have revived campaigns to pass additional legislation.

This Wednesday, Department of Transportation officials will be explaining to a Senate subcommittee on why bus safety regulations have not been implemented faster in the past several years which could have prevented fatal bus crashes.

The National Transportation Safety Board has earlier recommended requiring passengers to wear seatbelts and installing monitors that gauge how many hours a bus driver has worked behind the wheel.

Other proposals submitted by the NTSB to the DOT include requiring buses to have stronger roofs to withstand collisions and to install windows which are shatter-proof but can easily be opened by passengers in case of an emergency. The recommendations mostly involve large buses called motorcoaches.

NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman voiced her disappointment over how her office's recommendations were not implemented thoroughly by the Transportation Department to prevent fatal bus crashes.

A key change in the offing is redefining requirements of how to acquire commercial driver's licenses and improved testing for bus drivers.

According to the NTSB, for the last 12 years, driver-related causes have been established in at least 60 percent of deadly motorcoach bus crashes.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Wednesday March 30 2011, 8:27 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0