Party bus death raises safety issues: limo owner
Emergency levers besides doors too easy to trigger
The death of a young Langley woman who fell from the open door of a party bus this past weekend might have been prevented if emergency door releases were harder to trigger, says an experienced driver.
Chelsea Lynn Mist James, 23, died on Saturday night while travelling to a downtown Vancouver nightclub with a group of two dozen people celebrating a friend’s birthday.
Police say James fell from an open door while the vehicle was making a turn onto Burrard Street from West Hastings. She was then struck by the vehicle.
The party bus was operated by Silver Lady Limousine of Burnaby.
Tommy Cuscito, founder of Tommy Limos, believes James’ death may be linked to an emergency door release that was simply too accessible.
“It’s a tragic event,” he said. “I think it could have definitely been prevented.”
The emergency levers on every party bus that Cuscito has driven are located above or just beside the door to the bus, he said, adding that he has even heard of some vehicles with foot-operated valves on the floor.
“I don’t like the location of them. That’s probably part and parcel of why that door opened when that vehicle was in transport,” Cuscito said.
In his view, anyone from a drunk person to a curious fiveyear-old could accidentally open one of these doors, putting themselves and others in danger.
The placement of these emergency levers is decided by the mainly U.S.-based companies that build party buses. Companies like Silver Lady that operate the vehicles in Metro Vancouver have no control over where
“Unless they’re going to put a chaperon in the door well or ate very window where there’ s an emergency escape hatch, let’ s just use commonsense and make sure that these doors and windows just don’t open on their own.
TOMMY CUSCITO FOUNDER, TOMMY LIMOS
the door release is located, says Cuscito.
He would like to see emergency levers placed behind breakaway Plexiglas doors, as they are on many public buses, but he said he has been told by provincial commercial vehicle inspectors that he can’t alter the factory specifications.
This weekend’s death has prompted calls for mandatory chaperones on party buses and tighter regulations for the industry, but Cuscito believes those ideas don’t address the real problem in this case.
“Unless they’re going to put a chaperon in the doorwell or at every window where there’s an emergency escape hatch, let’s just use common sense and make sure that these doors and windows just don’t open on their own,” he said.
A spokesperson for the provincial Ministry of Transportation was unable to respond to questions about emergency door releases by The Sun’s deadline.
The province introduced new regulations about a year ago that require party bus operators to obtain special licences that include tougher sanctions for violations. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to $5,000.
Silver Lady has received four violation tickets from police in the last two years. Two of those were for running red lights and two were for open liquor.
The company is disputing the latest open liquor violation.
The company was last involved in a crash in January 2013 in Langley. The collision caused some property damage. No charges were laid.
Silver Lady recently faced down a lawsuit from a party bus passenger who claimed she was injured in 2009 after the vehicle’s driver made a sudden stop during a trip between Vancouver and Coquitlam. A jury last month found that the driver was not negligent.
The company is also being sued by a woman who alleges she suffered multiple injuries when the Silver Lady limousine she was riding in was involved in a collision in 2011.