Investigation of NY bus crash continues

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We have written about the tour bus which crashed on July 17 in upstate New York between Niagara Falls and Trenton, New Jersey. Sources weren't clear about the number of passengers injured in that crash, but said up to 19 were taken to area hospitals for treatment of minor injuries. Last Thursday, police said they were investigating how fast the bus was travelling at the time of the accident. According to State Police Captain Eric Janis, the bus crashed during a rainstorm which had caused the highway to become slick. Janis said police want to know whether the bus' speed was appropriate for the weather conditions. The New York Department of Transportation is currently working with investigators on a safety inspection of the bus. Sources said the bus had been operated by Amerpol Tours of Morrisville, Pennsylvania. A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said that the department conducts around 120,000 roadside inspections of commercial vehicles every year. Those investigations usually involve accidents. The department will soon be looking to hire 20 new inspectors to take on another 160,000 annual truck and bus inspections. As we have mentioned, last month's crash is the latest in a string of bus accidents in the east and northeast. Those accidents include one in Pittsburgh, one in Virginia, one in New York City, and another one in New Jersey. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a crackdown on charter bus companies after the New York City bus crash and two other fatal accidents in July. Cuomo plans to establish new inspection guidelines in the wake of those accidents. Source: Reuters, "Police probe speed of bus that crashed in upstate NY," Neale Gulley, August 4, 2011.