Party bus owners work to install window alarms after girl's death
BEAVERTON, Ore. – It took the death of a 11-year-old girl before anything to happen, but five months later most party bus owners in Portland are making changes to prevent another tragedy.
Angie Hernandez fell out of a party bus window in September and died. Several inspections revealed major safety violations with the bus, including broken emergency exit windows, but the district attorney says the driver was not at fault for the death of Hernandez, and that the driver was sober and driving safely at the time. But he could still face civil charges.
In response to the accident, some area bus owners have installed an alarm system connected to the levers that unlock the emergency exit windows.
When the levers are flipped up, a loud, annoying, can't-miss-it sound can be heard. Additionally, a red light turns on just above the driver.
Johnny Meeke of JMI Limousine in Beaverton has installed the alarms on his fleet of party buses.
"This is new. We just did this since the fatality of Angie," he said Thursday.
If Hernandez' bus, owned by Five Star Limousine, had this technology, it may've saved her life.
The DA's report found the window she fell from was working. It was fine.
But the window opened, Hernandez fell and died because the lever was unlatched and nobody knew it.
Meeke said the alarm is going to make "a big difference. No one's going to fall out of (the windows.) The driver can intervene and he's going to “stop the bus, come back, and slap their hands a little bit" if kids are playing with the levers.
He said limo company owners knew for years emergency exit windows could be dangerous but nobody seriously addressed the concern because there hadn’t been any similar accidents like the one that took Hernandez' life.
KATU News reached about half of the 16 limo companies with Portland permits Thursday. Five of them said they installed or are installing the alarms. Only two said they don't plan to. It is optional now, but the city might start requiring the alarms later this spring.
It's unfortunate that these things happen but I have a San Diego Party Bus company ( http://www.sdhotlimos.com ) and with any motor vehicle you will have the unfortunate occurrence of accidents. What people fail to realize is that the San Diego Party Bus industry provide a greater service than what politicians want you to know as they try and pass stiffer limo laws that will only go back to more teens on the streets behind the wheels drunk. This is something nobody in their right mind wants! My Father was a locomotive engineer and he had the horrible pleasure of hitting a car load of kids who were drunk driving, racing the train, on prom night, killing a car load of kids. I remember listening in to the phone call and hearing his somber voice. Is this were we want to go as a society? We need responsible LAWS, not ones that only make the problem worse. I support the new chaperone law California just passed. But supervision is the answer!
A party bus where you can't hang out of the window???? WTF????
That seems really young to me to be exposed to a "party bus"? Maybe not. All I know is, I'm getting a party bus at the end of this month for me and 17 of my friends for my 25th birthday and we will def. not be seated the whole time. Why have a pole if you aren't going to put it to good use?
They should chain the fire escapes shut like the did in the child-labor textile factories in New York back in the 1900s. That keeps the kids from unscheduled exits from the premises.
Maybe if they limited the -capacity- of the party buses. Who needs a high-capacity party bus filled with children in the middle of a city anyway? The Founding Fathers gave hay rides.
Or maybe if the adults that were accompanying the child actually paid attention.
They were just lucky that nobody fell out of the hay ride! ;)
"The DA's report found the window she fell from was working. It was fine."
So far the bus had not broken any laws, the emergency windows were functioning as prescribed by law, the driver was not speeding or driving recklessly, the driver cannot see what is happening in the back, and the only issue was that the driver did not have a CDL.
It would appear that the biggest mistake was that there wasn't an adult to monitor the kids and keep them in the seats.
This is not going to bode well for any civil lawsuits.
"It took the death of a 11-year-old girl before anything to happen..."Â Huh?
This comment has been deleted
@Dr. Rawdog The problem is that you can't trust a liberal kid not to fall out of a perfectly-working emergency exit. You have to keep an eye on them all the time, because their parents don't.
Just because something bad happens doesn't mean a crime was committed. I don't think he will fair so well in the civil arena.
@Scotty9 How long do you suppose they should wait for reactionary, vengeful liberals to think of something to arrest them for?
@Playanekes @Scotty9 Â
The evil bus company will be held accountable one way or the other. Now had she been ran over by an occupyer speeding to get some medical marijuana, all would be forgiven.
a shallow, yet hopefully successful token act, from their point of view, to lessen the civil suit award (imo).
Good for the bus company... This is a tragedy that should never happen.. Let's not point fingers.. The bus driver, come on, I want his to drive the bus, not watch for kids hopping out windows.. So sorry to the girls family, I can not imagine your pain in this..