Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today released the following statement after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a safety recommendation report related to its investigation into last year’s Schoharie limousine crash. The October 6, 2018 crash in Schoharie County was the nation’s deadliest transportation accident in almost a decade, claiming the lives of 20 people and reaffirming an urgent need for new federal safety regulations for these vehicles:
“It’s been nearly a year since the Schoharie community experienced a tragic loss from the limousine accident that took the lives of 20 New Yorkers. This limousine crash made it painfully clear that there are fatal consequences when adequate safety regulations are not implemented. Now, almost a year later, the NTSB has confirmed what we already knew – that stretch limousines are dangerously under-regulated. The NTSB’s report released today outlines a number of recommendations to help make these vehicles safer, and we have a responsibility to ensure that these recommendations are implemented without delay. While nothing could ever reverse the tragedy that the Schoharie community experienced last year, we can work to prevent tragedies like this from happening again. I will continue to work closely with my colleagues in Congress to close problematic regulatory loopholes and ensure that limousines are required to comply with the important safety protections, including the standards for seat integrity, seat belt design, and performance, outlined in the NTSB report.”