Flipped bus may lead to charges
‘Stupid Motorist Law’ could be applied after vehicle flipped in flooded wash
The operator of a tour bus that flipped over in a flooded wash near Kingman praises its driver for helping passengers climb to safety, but the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office says he may be charged under Arizona’s “Stupid Motorist Law.”
The driver of a Las Vegas-bound tour bus that flipped over in a flooded wash near Kingman after a trip to the Grand Canyon Skywalk may be charged under Arizona’s “Stupid Motorist Law,” authorities said Monday.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said that “charges maybe pending” against driver Joseph Razon, 52, whose bus was carrying 33 tourists on Pierce Ferry Road, about 35 miles from Kingman, when he tried to cross a flooded wash.
The bus stalled and was swept nearly half a mile down the fastmoving, 8-foot-deep and 100-footwide wash, authorities said.
The passengers were unharmed, and a second Canyon Coach Lines bus picked them up and took them back to Las Vegas, officials said.
“It’s astonishing that no one was hurt or injured because it had the makings of a terrible tragedy,” Patrick Moore, fire chief of the Northern Arizona Consolidated Fire District, said Sunday.
Canyon Coach Lines, whose legal name is CH Destination Inc., defended Razon.
It praised his experience and “professionalism” in helping the passengers climb from the windows of the overturned bus onto land and to safety.
“He was able to maneuver the motor coach to create a full stop and then tip the bus at an angle to allow the passengers to exit the bus safely to dry ground,” company spokes-
Drivers can face stiff fines for intentionally entering clearly marked, flooded roadways.
woman Bessy Lee said.
Under Arizona Revised Statute 28-910, more commonly known as the “Stupid Motorist Law,” drivers can face stiff fines for intentionally entering clearly marked, flooded roadways. It is a seldom-applied law, according to a recent investigation by
and 12 News. Lee said Monday that there were no warnings on the road, the only one accessible to the Grand Canyon’s West Rim. Nor did officials alert the Hualapai Tribe, on whose land the bus departed after visiting the Canyon, she said.
“There was not a single warning sign anywhere near that road to indicate there would be a flash flood on that road,” Lee said. “If anything they (Mohave County officials) should charge themselves.”
The rain fell so hard it quick- ly filled roads and washes, according to the National Weather Service.
Asked to comment about the purported lack of warning signs, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Trish Carter said, “I would not know that information.”
The bus company has been traveling the same route daily for years and carries up to 500 passengers a day, Lee said.
“We know what we are doing,” she said. “Never, ever, in all the years that we have done that excursion, have we ever run into a flash flood.”
Lee said the bus was “T-boned by a flash flood” after Razon entered the wash, following a smaller car that crossed it safely.
The company owns 21 buses, employs 38 drivers and travels more than 230,000 miles a year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The company earned the highest ranking, “satisfactory,” after a 2012 audit, but it earned a low mark for driver safety after 48 inspections in two years, according to agency records.
Eighty-eight percent of the 4,000 interstate bus lines in the agency’s database had better driver-safety records, according to the reports.
In March, Razon was cited in Mohave County for speeding while driving a tour bus, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Carter, the Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said Monday that investigators were considering imposing the Stupid Motorist Law against the driver.
“A lot of people will cross when it’s an inch or 2 or 3. I can’t say whether it was that low or not,” she told the Associated Press. “The bus saw a passenger vehicle go through. I’m sure I’m thinking, ‘The bigger I am, the more I can do.’ ”