Horror crash at deadly junction
THE site of a devastating accident that killed two pedestrians and 18 occupants of a limousine headed to a birthday party, including four sisters, is a known danger spot that has long worried locals, according to a manager of the store that sits at the intersection where the accident happened.
The intersection had been redone in 2008 because of a fatal accident there, said Jessica Kirby, managing director of the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe, which is an institution in Schoharie and for the legions of leaf-peepers who take to the roads of upstate New York each autumn.
Since the reconstruction, three tractor-trailers have run through the same stop sign authorities said the limo blew through and into a field behind her business, Ms Kirby said.
Officials worked with the state to outlaw heavy trucks, she said, but there were still accidents. And now this.
“More accidents than I can count,” she said in an email. “We have been asking for something to be done for years.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo released a statement on Sunday saying he has “directed state agencies to provide every resource necessary to aid in this investigation”.
Post mortems were being performed; authorities didn’t say whether the limo occupants were wearing seat belts or what speed it was travelling at.
Relatives said the limousine was carrying four sisters and their friends to a 30th birthday celebration for the youngest.
“They did the responsible thing getting a limo so they wouldn’t have to drive anywhere,” their aunt, Barbara Douglas, said.
She did not want to name them publicly, but added: “They were wonderful girls. They’d do anything for you and they were very close to each other and they loved their family.”
The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine failed to stop at a Tjunction, state police said, and went across the road and hit an unoccupied, parked SUV and two pedestrians.
The crash appeared to be the deadliest land-vehicle accident in the US since a bus ferrying nursing home patients away from Hurricane Rita caught fire in Texas 2005, killing 23.
THEY DID THE RESPONSIBLE THING GETTING A LIMO SO THEY WOULDN’T HAVE TO DRIVE ANYWHERE VICTIMS’ AUNT, BARBARA DOUGLAS