After the collision in Richmond on Tuesday morning, where a bus headed for New York swerved off the road and flipped, killing four people, bus company Sky Express, Inc was promptly shut down by the Department of Transportation. They have agreed to cooperate with all investigations relating to this incident and prevented any of its buses from leaving as soon as it heard about the accident.. According to the Associated Press, the company was already close to being shut down, but they had been granted an extension to file an appeal. Had this extension not been granted, the company would no longer have existed as of the Saturday before the accident.
Sky Express was cited for a number of violations of transportation regulations and will not be able to resume its service until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration deems it to be safe again. The driver of the bus, Kin Yiu Cheung, is being charged with reckless driving and his hearing is scheduled for Friday, June 3, 2011. The police also believe that driver fatigue played a hand in the terrible accident. This accident has also begun to prompt new reforms, such as seat belts for passengers and electronic on-board recorders of timetables that would decrease the amount of falsified driver hours.
As a Virginia accident attorney, I know coverage may be an issue. Since there were so many injuries and four deaths, there could be a problem with insurance coverage. If Sky Express only has $5 million in insurance coverage, there may not be enough for all the claims. Many victims may be looking to the bus company to pay directly or to their own insurance policies, if they have large enough uninsured policy limits.
