Limos can be safe, says U.S. official

Despite crash report, NTSB chairman says vehicles not the issue

After making a blistering critique of Prestige Limousine and the state agencies that it says failed to adequately protect the public from the limo company’s “egregious disregard for safety,” the National Transportation Safety Board says it believes that stretch limousines can be safely operated, despite the 2018 Schoharie limo crash in which 20 people died.

Prestige Limousine, owned by the Hussain family of Wilton, which also owned a run-down motel that the state shut down a year ago, supplied the 2001 stretch limousine involved in the Schoharie crash, one of the worst highway transportation disasters in the U.S. in more than a decade.

On Tuesday, the NTSB’S five members met virtually to review the agency ’s final report on the Oct. 6, 2018, Schoharie crash. And while Prestige Limousine shouldered most of the blame for the disaster, both the state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Motor Vehicles were found to have contributed to the crash by allowing Prestige to fall through regulatory cracks.

Despite having failed two roadside inspections conducted by the DOT that found defective brakes and one by the State Police that found that the driver was not properly licensed, the Excursion was never impounded or had its plates taken away.

After a nearly five-hour meeting Tuesday, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt answered several questions from the Times Union, including whether or not be believed that the NTSB re

port and its list of recommendations for regulatory agencies and trade groups would result in the end of the use of stretch limousines by the public.

“I think that stretch limousines can be operated safely,” Sumwalt said. “Unfortunately in this case, we saw a very, very tragic case. Prestige Limousine took every opportunity to circumvent the regulatory process.”

And while the NTSB’S report may embolden attorneys for the victims’ families, some of whom have sued the state DOT and DMV in the state Court of Claims, Sunwalt says that is not what the NTSB’S actions were intended to do.

He said the DOT and DMV were named in the “probable cause” section of the report as a way to make regulatory changes, not to help civil lawsuits or even criminal cases.

“We don’t use the report to place blame,” Sunwalt said. “We’re not here to point fingers. We’re not here to help the lawyers bolster their cases.”

In fact, Albany attorney Brian Premo, who is representing the family of victim Michael Ukaj, said he doesn’t really see a civil case against the state. He has filed a lawsuit not only against the Hussain family but also Mavis Discount Tires, which he and other attorneys claim did insufficient work on the Excursion’s brakes.

“Our focus is on Mavis,” Premo said.

Mavis has denied any wrongdoing and was not listed in the NTSB’S probable cause section.