The topic of limousine safety has come up as of late because of recent incidents in the news. About a month ago, a tragic vehicle fire claimed the lives of five women on the San Mateo bridge, and this past weekend, a group of people escaped a different blaze which took place in Walnut Creek.
In an effort to ensure these types of incidents don’t become commonplace, California’s Senate Majority Leader has introduced a measure that seeks to bolster the safety of limousines. The Senator has called the fire from a month ago preventable and hopes that unnecessary fatalities can be avoided in the future with an expansion of limousine legislation.
Not only is the Senator critical of the safety measures currently in place for limos, but she also seems to question whether the California Public Utilities Commission was derelict in its duty to address the issues in place in the luxury transportation industry. For their part, the Commission has said that they may assess a penalty against the limo company involved in the aforementioned fire if it’s discovered that the seating capacity was misrepresented.
If eventually passed, the proposed law would make it mandatory for limos to have two windows that passengers in the back can push outward from the interior. It would also require the installation of two exit doors.