California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Bill Requiring Safety Exits in Limousines

Following the two consecutive fiery limousine crashes that occurred this year in California, Governor Jerry Brown has finally come up with a resolution to prevent such fatal incidences.

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. 

Limousine Driver on Phone before Fatal Blast in California

Several weeks following the fiery limousine crash that killed at least five people in California, news update that recently emerged has revealed that the driver of the said luxury vehicle was on phone before the incident.

According to media sources, during an interview, the estranged wife of Orville Brown, the driver of the limousine that was caught on fire on May 7 along San Mateo Bridge, claimed that her ex-husband was arguing with her on the phone moments before the incident.

Rachel “Raquel” Hernandez-Brown claimed that while his former husband was driving and at the same time having an argument with her, he turned up the music so that the passengers could not hear their conversation.

The music is really loud and in fact, she can no longer understand what her estranged husband was saying, Hernandez-Brown said.

Apparently, Hernandez-Brown’s statement correlates with one of the surviving victim.. One of the victims claimed that when she banged on the partition of the limousine to warn the driver that the back of the limo was filing with smoke the driver could not understand, the driver affirmed that he initially misunderstood the warning as a request to smoke a cigarette and kept driving.

Hernandez-Brown further claimed that Brown continuously calling her back following the fiery accident.

Previous reports claimed that the women were out to celebrate their friend’s recent marriage. Unfortunately, a joyful ride turned sorrowful after the vehicle burst into flame and killed five of its nine passengers.

Hernandez-Brown continued by saying that she and Brown have been separated since April. In fact, just before the blaze, she called the police to report that Brown kicked and dented her car during an actual argument. However, just like most offenders, he left before the cops arrived.

So far, Brown remains mum following his ex-wife’s revelation. Meanwhile, the Prosecutors claimed that the investigation is already complete and that the case is already moving forward. Thus, a Los Angeles injury lawyer is keeping an eye with the issue.