A Chinatown bus headed to Manhattan rolled over on a Virginia highway in the early morning hours killing four women and injuring 54 others. According to The Wall Street Journal, the driver of the bus, Kin Yiu Cheung, picked up 58 passengers in Greensboro, North Carolina before heading back to New York’s Chinatown. Police state that Cheung’s fatigue is to blame for the crash.
The Journal reports that this crash is the third fatal accident this year involving low-fare buses that run between New York’s Chinatown and other cities along the East Coast.
Sky Express Bus, Inc., the owner of this particular Chinatown bus line, has a long history of safety violations involving driver fatigue reports The Journal. Sky Express Bus has been cited 46 times during the last two years for violating rules designed to keep fatigued drivers off the road. The company has since been shut down by authorities.
As a bus company in the business of transporting members of the public, Sky Express Bus is considered a common carrier. Unlike ordinary drivers who just transport themselves or family members, common carriers owe their passengers a higher duty of care and must exercise special precautions to protect their riders. This can include ensuring that drivers are not overly fatigued and that drivers take proper rest breaks.
Having 46 violations of safety rules in the past two years is strong evidence that Sky Express Bus failed to meet its higher duties as a common carrier to protect its passengers. Sky Express Bus can expect to be hit by dozens of negligence and wrongful death lawsuits by those injured in the latest Chinatown bus accident, and the families of those killed.
Related Resources:
- Find a New York Personal Injury Lawyer (FindLaw)
- ‘Chinatown’ bus tragedy (NY Post)
- Bus Accidents In Northeast The Most Recent In A Decade Long List (FindLaw)
- Mohegan Sun Casino Bus Crash Kills 15 in NYC (FindLaw’s Injured Blog)
- Bronx Bus Accident Claims 15 NYC Lives, Negligent Hiring Suspected (FindLaw)
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