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)