Articles Posted in 15 Passenger Van Accidents

A Fontana woman died and two children sustained critical injuries Tuesday night when her van was hit by a Hilton Hotel van, whose driver, police say, ran a red light. According to a news article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the 53-year-old woman, Sally Alvarado, was driving a 2002 Toyota Sienna with two boys ages 4 and 5, who are now reportedly in the hospital in critical condition.

Officials told the newspaper based on preliminary investigations that the driver of the Hilton Hotel van was at fault and that he failed to stop for the red light. The article said Alvarado was making a right turn from the off-ramp of the 10 Freeway in Ontario when the Hilton Ford van struck the driver’s side. The vehicle reportedly belongs to the Hilton Ontario Airport hotel. The van driver was taken to a hospital and was treated for minor injuries, the Bulletin reported. No charges had been filed yet.

Investigators are still looking at the evidence. They don’t know if the van driver ran the light because he was distracted or talking on the cell phone. Whatever the reason, a tragedy has occurred. One woman is dead and two little boys are fighting for their lives.

Red light running is one of the most common and yet one of the most dangerous traffic violations. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/rlr.html), a nationwide study of fatal crashes at traffic signals in 1999 and 2000 estimated that 20 percent of the drivers failed to obey the signals. In 2005, more than 800 people were killed and about 165,000 were injured in crashes that involved red light running. The victims who die in these crashes mostly turn out to be pedestrians and occupants in other vehicles who are hit by the red light runners.

Depending on the degree of carelessness or negligence, the driver of the Hilton van may face a vehicular manslaughter charge. But that is usually charged only after an elaborate investigation as it should be. Early this week I reported how the California Highway Patrol was seeking manslaughter charges against a truck driver that caused a traffic fatality and it seemed he was a lost less negligent than the driver of this Hilton van.
Continue reading →

A Louisiana woman was killed and 12 others were injured Monday when their 15-passenger van veered off the Interstate 75 and crashed into a guardrail, according to an article in the The Knoxville News-Sentinel. According to reports, the driver lost control of the van as he reached for a soda on the floor of the van. The accident occurred in the early morning of July 30.

Sharel Lapine, 45, was ejected from the van and pronounced dead on the scene. Her husband, Ricky Lapine, who drove the van, was also injured as were four other adults and seven children. All were taken to local hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening, the newspaper reported. Tennessee Highway Patrol officials also told reporters that the entire side of the 15-passenger van, which was not identified by brand, was ripped open in the crash. All the children were wearing seatbelts, but the adults were not buckled up and were ejected, officials told the News-Sentinel.

The dangers of 15-passenger vans are quite significant. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a study two years ago which found 74 percent of all 15-passenger vans had tires which had not been properly inflated and as a result increased the propensity of the vehicle to become unstable or roll over – even in normal speeds, road conditions and weather conditions. Only 39 percent of passenger cars reportedly had a similar problem. The report strongly recommends all occupants to wear seatbelts because studies found that nearly 80 percent of those who died in 15-passenger van accidents between 1990 and 2003 were not buckled up.

More information is available on NHTSA’s 15-passenger van advisory page.

Also, federal law prohibits these vans from being used to transport children. To find out more about the interpretation of the federal law relating to 15-passenger vans, visit their web site.
Continue reading →

A meat-packing plant’s shuttle van, which was carrying workers to the plant, overturned on a Philadelphia expressway early Monday morning, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others, according to an article posted on the Philadelphia Daily News’ Web site.

The driver of the 1980 Dodge Sportsman van, 51-year-old Jean-Baptiste Saint Louis, was driving the vehicle northbound on Route 309 when he lost control and the van went onto the shoulder of the freeway, flipping over on a grassy embankment, the article said. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, officials said.

The 15 other workers, a majority of them Haitian, were taken to local hospitals to treat their injuries, some of them life-threatening, the newspaper reported. Names of the deceased and injured have not yet been released. The crash is still under investigation, but officials say they don’t believe alcohol was a factor. Police are however performing a toxicology test on the driver as part of procedure, the article said. Traffic was snarled on the expressway for about five hours Monday morning.
Continue reading →