This is
another tragic, and avoidable, accident.
It is reported that nine people are dead and as many
as 20 injured after a charter bus rolled several times on wet and snowy roads
in Utah's Four Corners area. The crash happened Sunday, January 6,
2008, on U.S. 163 about 5 miles north of Mexican Hat, Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune reported the following:
"Utah Highway Patrol troopers are trying to determine what caused the driver to veer off the
rain-slicked State Road 163 about 5 miles north of Mexican Hat about
7:30 p.m. and down a 40-foot embankment. Weather forecasters reported
light rain in the area at the t "It could be speed, it could be fatigue, it could be
distractions," said UHP Lt. Todd Peterson, who spent the morning
investigating at the crash site. "I couldn't say for sure at this point
which one it was."
The roof of the bus tore apart as it rolled, ejecting almost
all of the roughly 50 passengers and killing three people on impact,
Peterson said. Four others died while being treated on the scene or
transported to hospitals, and one more died while being treated at a
hospital in Moab, according to UHP.
The ninth victim, a woman, died Monday at Saint Mary's
Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., Trooper Cameron Roden told the
Associated Press.
The bus driver survived with minor injuries
Speed. Fatigue.
Distractions. In my view, these are entirely unacceptable actions
for a professional common carrier such as Corporate Transportation 'N Tours,
an Arrow Stage Lines subsidiary, the owner/operator of the bus at issue.
Under Utah
law, common carriers, such as Arrow Stage Lines, have a special relationship
with their passengers. This arises
because they assume responsibility for another's safety and deprive the other
of his or her normal opportunities for self protection. Because of this, common carriers are held to
a heightened standard of care which is “predicated on the principle that '[p]ersons
using ordinary transportation devices, such as elevators and buses, normally expect to be carried safely,
securely, and without incident to their destination.” Lamb v. B & B Amusements Corp.,
869 P. 926 (Utah 1993).
This tragedy did not need to happen.
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