A bus on its way back to Queens from Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut crashed on Route I-95 in New Rochelle early this morning, injuring all 24 on board, 5 seriously.
The bus, traveling South, slammed into the left cement guardrail at 6:20 am and cut over three lanes before striking and skidding along the right side guardrail between exits 16 and 15.
The tour bus company had been cited four times in the past year for driver fatigue, according to LoHud. Star Tag of Brooklyn’s most recent safety violations were on Feb. 4, when it was cited during a roadside inspection for “a log violation related to fatigued driving, inadequate bus emergency exit markings and inoperable required lamps. The company was also cited for fatigued driving or speeding on Nov. 10, Aug. 22 and March 18, 2011.”
First responders found bus driver Wei Chen bleeding on the road about a tenth of a mile from his bus, which was still running.
“It was still creeping a little bit,” the Daily News quoted New Rochelle Fire Department Chief Louis DiMeglio.
In May, the government shut down 26 budget bus operators, most operating out of Chinatown and running the I-95 route from New York calling them “imminent hazards to public safety.”
The New York Times reports a woman who answered the phone at Star Tag on Wednesday morning suggested that its driver may have skidded because the roads were wet from the rain.
“He’s got an excellent record,” the Times quotes the woman as saying. “That’s why we were shocked, too.”
