MINEOLA, N.Y. -- The National Transportation Safety Board has agreed to investigate some limousine accidents, something it has rarely done, after a lawmaker and others questioned the safety of vehicles modified into stretch limos.
The announcement follows a July crash in Long Island, New York's wine country, where a pickup truck smashed into a limousine carrying eight women, killing four of them.
NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said Thursday the federal agency will investigate limousine crashes on a case-by-case basis. He noted the agency recently issued a report on a 2014 crash in New Jersey that injured comedian Tracy Morgan, who had been traveling in a limo van.
Federal investigators are also looking into a limousine fire on a freeway in San Jose, California reported last week.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said the NTSB decision resulted from a letter he sent following the Long Island accident.
``It's clear that stretching a limo can put the wheels in motion for a terrible tragedy,'' Schumer said in a statement.
He said the NTSB's participation in future investigations could help gather data to address safety issues involving the vehicles. He said secondary market manufacturers often alter limos after they've been produced by the original manufacturers.
Schumer suggested many stretch limos may lack certain basic safety features such as the necessary number of side impact air bags, reinforced rollover protection bars, structurally sound frames and accessible emergency exits.
The NTSB assisted local investigators with a collision reconstruction of the Long Island crash, which happened when a pickup truck smashed into the side of the limousine while it was making a U-turn in Cutchogue. The pickup truck driver was arrested on driving while intoxicated charges, although a lab report found he had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.066, below the legal standard of 0.08.
Local
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said toxicologists have indicated the driver's blood-alcohol level ``was most likely over 0.08'' at the time of the crash. That investigation remains ongoing, and no determination has been made on whether to proceed with a DWI prosecution.
``I wholeheartedly agree that there is an urgency to address the basic safety protections which do not appear to be present in modified limousines,'' the prosecutor said.
In 2013, there were five deaths in a limousine fire on the San Mateo Bridge in Northern California. Officials traced the cause to the failure of vehicle's rear suspension system. The limousine was also carrying too many passengers.
The NTSB, in its investigation of the 2014 New Jersey Turnpike crash, said the failure of Morgan and other passengers to wear seat belts and adjust headrests contributed to the severity of injuries when the limo van was struck from behind by a truck. It also found the truck driver, who hadn't slept in 28 hours, failed to slow down despite posted warning signs.
Investigators said a sheet of plywood that had been added to the limo to separate the cab from passengers blocked occupants from escaping through the front doors after the crash.
Comedian James ``Jimmy Mack'' McNair, a mentor of Morgan's from Peekskill, was killed. Morgan suffered head trauma and was in a coma for two weeks. Three other passengers suffered serious injuries.
