Yet another casino bus crash on I-95

We’ve heard this story before. A bus returning from a trip to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut crashed on I-95 in New Rochelle enroute to Queens where 23 passengers had boarded the Star Tag bus the day before.

At about 6:20 AM on July 4, the bus hit the median, swerved to the left, careened to the right and slid along the wall at the edge of the shoulder for about 500 feet. All passengers and the driver were transported to nearby hospitals with minor injuries.

The state police noted that no other vehicles were involved and that the driver was not impaired at the time of the crash. However, it appeared that he was driving too fast for conditions on the rain slicked roadway. Star Tag Inc. received four citations in the past two years for unsafe driving. Additionally, every inspection performed on the company’s buses has revealed maintenance problems.

The federal Department of Transportation (DOT) shut down 26 low cost bus companies on the East Coast recently in the wake of several fatal bus crashes involving casino buses. The worst also occurred on I-95, close to the Westchester-Bronx line and just two miles from the July 4 crash. Fifteen people died when the fatigued driver lost control of the bus and rolled over. The bus was split open by a sign stanchion as it slid. In addition to the 15 deaths, 19 people were injured, five of them critically.

Like passengers in the Bronx accident, many of the people involved in the New Rochelle crash did not speak English, and passengers could communicate with police only through hospital interpreters.

An investigation into the accident is continuing.

Source: Huffington Post, “Casino Bus Crash North Of NYC Sends 24 To The Hospital,” by Samantha Gross, July 4, 2012