State measures proposed to increase limo safety, accountability
Mourners gather in 2018 at the site of a limousine crash in Schoharie County that killed 20 people. Credit: Getty Images / Stephanie Keith
ALBANY — New York’s newest proposals to make stretch limousines safer would increase fines and accountability for the modified vehicles as part of the fallout from two horrific crashes on Long Island and upstate.
The measures recommended by the state Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force would:
- Set a minimum fine for operating a suspended stretch limousine at $10,000.
- Require emergency tools on board.
- Retire stretch limos for service once they hit 350,000 miles or 10 years of use.
- Require pre-trip safety briefings to passengers of the stretch limos, which have been popular for weddings and outings such as winery tours.
Bills to retire stretch limos at 350,000 miles or 10 years of use and to require emergency rescue and fire suppression tools in the vehicles have been introduced in the State Legislature. Those bills are sponsored by Assemb. Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale).
Another bill to require safety briefings for passengers is also active in the Assembly and is sponsored by Assemb. Angelo Santabarbara (D-Schenectady) and State Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood), who led the bill’s passage in the Senate in January.
The legislature could act on the recommendations and bills beginning in January, when the 2024 session begins.
“The safety of all New Yorkers is my top priority, and I have listened to and heard the families who lost loved ones and know that more can and must be done,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in announcing the recommendations by the task force. “Building on the actions that my administration has taken to protect New Yorkers, this legislation will provide even more oversight and transparency to the limousine industry and keep New Yorkers safe.”
The legislature and Hochul have previously enacted laws concerning the registration of stretch limos and the sale of used limos among operators, increasing the number of safety inspections, improving coordination of safety enforcers between states, and increasing enforcement against fraudulent operators of the vehicles. Stretch limos are vehicles that have been extended after they are manufactured to carry more passengers and amenities.
Still awaiting the governor’s signature into law or veto is a bill that would extend the life of the Limousine Passenger Task Force for another year.
In 2015, a crash involving a stretch limousine in Cutchogue on Suffolk County’s North Fork left four young people dead and injured four more. As the families of those victims lobbied for changes in law to make stretch limousines safer, another limousine crashed in 2018 in Schoharie County that killed 20 people.
Long Island parents whose children were involved in the Cutchogue crash support extending the role of the task force created in 2020 after the upstate crash.
“We would like to see the signing of the proposed extension of the task force to complete its work in its most comprehensive form,” said Nancy DiMonte of East Northport, She is the spokeswoman for the Cutchogue families whose victims included DiMonte’s daughter, Joelle, who was injured.
“These are some of our recommendations, and are worthy of enactment," DiMonte said.
Task force members alongside other legislators, she added, continue to push for the extension of the task force.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
