Recent reports have confirmed that Brown signed a bill that would require all limousines that operate in the state to have emergency exits.
According to reports, Brown has signed SB 109 authored by Democratic Senator Ellen Corbett of San Leandro, which seeks to prevent limousine accidents from happening in the future. Under the said bill, limousines that carry fewer than ten passengers should have at least two push out windows and two rear-doors. Also, effective in January 2016, limo drivers are required to instruct passengers about the vehicle’s safety features right at the beginning of the trip.
Nevertheless, in line with his go signal with SB 109, Brown on the other hand had vetoed a bill requiring the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to conduct annual safety inspections for stretch limousines for a fee of $75.
Brown has claimed that the said amount is insufficient to cover the CHP’s inspection costs. Therefore, he gave the legislature until January next year to produce a similar bill dropping the authorized fee collection.
It could be remembered that way back in May, at least five people including a newlywed were killed after the limo that they were riding caught fire and burst into flame. Subsequently, a few weeks after the first incident, another limo carrying a group of elderly women reportedly caught fire and burst into flame. Fortunately, nobody was killed from the incident.
Based on investigations that follow the two fiery limo crashes, fire started when the car’s rear suspension failed, which allowed the vehicle’s steel drive shaft to scrape against the limousine’s floorboards.
Meanwhile, a Los Angeles accident attorney is quite confident that the legislators will eventually come up with a new bill similar to the vetoed one on or before the specified time and that the same would eventually get a go signal from the governor since the latter apparently likes the bill but in its better funding version.
