auto accident

Bus driver on cell phone jumps sidewalk, kills infant

Published on: August 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A bus driver is being charged with death by auto in a tragic incident on July 30 that killed an eight-month-old baby on in West New York, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York City. A police officer who arrived on the scene performed CPR on the infant, but ultimately was not able to save her.

Officers say the driver was talking on his cell phone when he lost control of the bus. It jumped the curb and struck a lamppost, which hit the baby carriage. In addition to the criminal offense of death by auto, which carries a prison term of five to ten years, the 48-year-old bus driver was issued summonses for reckless driving and using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.

According to a witness, the bus had just completed a stop to let off and pick up passengers when the chaos began. As soon as the bus started up again, the wheels began to spin and the bus seemed to go out of control. It jumped the curb and crashed into a lamppost, which struck the baby in her carriage. The bus continued moving, hitting a tree and then another lamppost. It also hit a parked car, which in turn plowed into several other parked cars. One of those cars had four people in it who suffered minor injuries.

Syracuse planner calls for stop sign at site of fatal crash

Published on: June 14, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A Syracuse city transportation planner is calling for a stop sign at the corner of Comstock Avenue and Acorn Path, not far from Syracuse University. An 18-year-old West Hill High School senior was killed at the intersection in an auto accident this March.

The student, who was driving home not long after midnight on March 2, had just turned from Acorn Path, a one-block street between Circle Road and Comstock Avenue, onto the 900 block of Comstock Avenue when an oncoming Centro bus struck her SUV.

The planner, who says he plans to discuss the situation with one of the city’s contracted engineering firms, asserts that the intersection exceeds the federal standards for a stop sign. Those standards require three hundred vehicles to drive through the intersection every eight hours to qualify for a stop sign. According to New York state traffic data, and an average of 412 cars pass through the intersection in one hour.

Runaway trailer carrying crushed cars kills seven near Syracuse

Published on: June 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A devastating car accident about 25 miles south of Syracuse, NY, claimed the lives of seven people, four of them children, just hours before the start of Memorial Day weekend. The enormity of the crash left even first responders shaken. It happened when a trailer carrying crushed cars broke away from its truck and slammed into the victims’ SUV, tearing the van apart. Some of the victims had to be removed from underneath the trailer.

The accident occurred Wednesday evening, May 29, on a two-lane stretch of Route 13 in the small rural community of Truxton, NY. The three adults killed were in their twenties. One was killed along with her two young daughters. The other two adults who died in the crash were engaged to be married. The only survivor in the SUV was the father of the other two children who died. He was reported to be in good condition. The children were all between the ages of four and seven. The two people in the truck, which belonged to Newton Salvage of Georgetown, NY, were uninjured.

Investigators have not yet determined whether mechanical failure, driver error, or some other issue caused the trailer to break away from its truck. In New York, trucks must be inspected at least once a year. They can also be pulled over for random roadside checks by the Department of Transportation (DOT) or state troopers. In addition to these precautionary measures, the DOT requires drivers to do a “walk-around” inspection of their trucks before each trip. One of the items they are supposed to check is the truck-trailer coupling. Newton Salvage has only been in business since 2012. According to the DOT, state troopers had records of one roadside inspection, where only minor violations were found. None of these was serious enough to remove the truck from service.