Limo Crash in 2015 Led to Warnings that were Ignored

ALBANY, NY- Watertowndailytimes.com reports that four women were tragically killed in a crash involving a limousine in 2015. The crash took place after the young women left a New York winery. The crash was investigated, and within about one year, the grand jury issued a report detailing recommendations and conclusions.

Unfortunately, many of the recommendations from the report were never implemented. Two things mentioned in the report would have had an impact on the 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limousine that was involved in a horrific crash that killed 20 people on October 6, 2018.

In the crash that took place in 2015, a modified Lincoln Town Car was hit in the side by a pickup truck. Four people died, and four sustained injuries.

One of the recommendations following that crash was that passengers in stretch limousines should be wearing seatbelts. An official from the Department of Transportation stated that people traveling in a stretch limousine, or any vehicle, are just projectiles if they are not restrained.

The 20 people killed in the October 6^th crash all died of blunt force trauma. The seatbelt law was not enacted. However, the vehicle was in violation of existing laws, and the company chose to use the vehicle illegally anyway.

The vehicle also did not have a tag indicating that it had been properly elongated when was initially released from the factory.

The driver of the vehicle was not licensed to operate a vehicle with so many passengers. The owner of the company is facing charges for criminally negligent homicide.

While the 2015 crash could have served as a warning, it is not clear whether additional regulations would have helped given that the company operating this vehicle chose to ignore the existing regulations.