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Sunday, May 5, 2013
Limo Fire on San Mateo Bridge
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Yesterday night, a limo burst into flames while transporting nine women to a bachelorette party in Foster City. Four women escaped but five were killed in the fire. One of those who died was the bride. This caused a lot of traffic on the bridge. Police are still trying to figure out what happened.
DON'T PANIC! This blog is authored by Seniors at Aragon High School, San Mateo, CA.
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- First Openly Gay Male U.S. Soccer Player
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- Limo Fire on San Mateo Bridge
- Shooting at McDonald's in East Palo Alto
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8 comments:
I think it's such a tragedy that this freak accident befell these women. I know several news agencies are broadcasting material on limousine safety, but there isn't very much we as clients can do to prevent such accidents. Fortunately for us, our prom passed with no similar events. I'm not sure if the exact cause of the fire was determined, but I know several car services practice subpar maintenance checks to save a buck here and there. I think there should be some stricter regulation of this field because people hiring a limo are trusting the company with their lives, to be perfectly frank. This kind of accident is not okay.
I was watching the news yesterday about this incident and found out that the limo used was only supposed to be for eight passengers but there were nine in the car, so safety on the consumer and operation side of the limo industry should be taken more seriously. It is terrible that the bride to be didn’t survive and it’s a little bit scary to think that something like this could happen so close to home. My mom, who watches news in Tagalog, sounded very critical of the driver, who didn’t seem to realize the fire until it was too late. I probably shouldn’t bring race into this because it sounds pretty unrelated and unnecessary, but I think my mom cared about the accident so much because the bride was Filipino. It makes me wonder if my mom wouldn’t be as critical of the fire if the victims were not of her race but it also brings me back to relating to such accidents because they happened close to home. Am I more concerned about limo regulations now because the fire happened on the San Mateo Bridge and not somewhere else? Perhaps, but maybe we could all learn something about safety regulations from this.
I agree with Eli and Maribelle that the limo industry should have stricter regulations to prevent tragedies of this scale in the future, but I wonder if the cause of this accident was mainly the fault of the limo company or the fault of the passengers riding the limo. What really confuses me is the fact that the fire broke out in the back of the limo and not in the car's hood or in the driver's area of the limo. Maribelle's point that the limo company should have been strict about its eight passenger capacity for the limo is valid, although I do not believe that one more person riding the limo could have caused an explosion of this proportion if the passengers had been behaving soundly in the limo, such as not drinking excessive amounts of alcohol while trying to light a cigarette, for example. Therefore, as investigation continues into the cause of the explosion, I would like to know why and how did the explosion originate, and who is to blame.
Frankly I think the driver is at least partly responsible for the number of deaths that occurred. One source I read said he left the passenger doors locked when he abandoned ship. While there may have been some impairment of logic due to the accident, the driver's apparently selfishness and hand in the deaths of some of the women shouldn't be ignored (the surviving women seem to have escaped the limo through the driver's door).
From what Garret has said about the driver abandoning his passengers behind locked doors, I would have to say that the driver is very much responsible for the deaths of these women. Despite this, some fault also lies in how the limousine companies failed to catch what ignited the tragedy. In the end, this accident has occurred, and regardless of who or what was at fault, further like incidents should be prevented at any cost.
This is a bit late, but there's not much left to post on. This is of course a devastating event that happened in the area. It's tragic enough that five people were killed in the accident, but there's also the accusation that the driver did nothing to help the people in the limo. The driver Orville Brown, of course, denies this. He stated that "I don't know what we could have done differently to save them." and maybe he has a point. But if he is responsible, he owes it to his passengers to confess publicly and apologize for his actions. Garrett and Kurtis agree that the driver should be held partly responsible for the deaths. The accounts of traumatized individuals could be inaccurate though.
Fortunately, the Oakland nursing home is reportedly setting up a fund for the survivors and the families of the deceased. As listed, the women who died are: "Neriza Fojas, 31, and Michelle Estrera, 35, of Fresno; Jennifer Balon, 39, of Dublin, Calif.; Anna Alcantara, 46, of San Lorenzo, Calif.; and Felomina Geronga, 43, of Alameda." It's nice to know the community is coming together to help the victims of this tragedy. I'm not certain if the "uninjured driver" (as the article puts it) has done anything to help out.
Notably, this event has caused the limo industry to start reevaluating its safety procedures. Though limos do not commonly get into serious accidents like this one, I find it important that the cause of the accident be identified quickly and fixed before it can happen again. Jennifer Kocher of the Pennyslvania Public Utility Commission has stated that "We don’t see nearly the number of problems with the limousine industry as we do with some of our other industries. Not that any of them are unsafe, but you have to rate them in some way, shape, or form, and the limousine industry consistently comes in as one of the safest."
Overall, I feel sorry for the victims but I do not believe this accident is representative of the limo industry. I suspect this is an isolated incident, but I could be wrong as more information comes out. Would stricter regulation, as Eli recommends, really work? Does one incident require national regulation of limos? For example, if a man shoots his neighbor, does that mean every gun owner must be subjected to new regulations? I don't have all the answers, but hopefully this never happens again.
P.S. If you're interested in common limo accidents, check this image out.
Just like Matthew said, this is a bit late, but there isn't much to talk about.
Anyways, all we see on news is sad things, never anything good. Even when something good happens, it is overlooked by the public. People revel in tragedy it seems like, well at least the news does. This can even be seen in politics. When trying to convince the American people that troops need to come back home, the whole picture isn't drawn. Sometimes they only show the part where people are getting killed and not showing the salvation that comes from having the troops deployed where ever. I mean condolences to the family and friends who suffered a lost, but sometimes I feel the media targets the wrong things and people search for those sad things. They make too good of stories.
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