Our thoughts and prayers go out to those injured and killed in this week’s tour bus crash including the families of Karen Blyden-Decastro, Josefa Torres, Giok Giang, and Denny Estefany Martinez who were killed in this crash that never should have happened.

The Sky Express, Inc. bus company that operated the tour bus that rolled over and killed 4 people in Virginia this week was put out of service by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as a result of multiple safety violations on May 31, 2011 (after the fatal crash). Sky Express is not permitted to operate across state lines and will no longer be able to provide transportation from North Carolina to New York. TALK ABOUT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE! This is maddening. The public should be concerned that the Sky Express Bus Company was permitted to continue operating until 5/31/11 despite the fact it had numerous safety violations and a status from the FMCSA indicating that consumers should be concerned about the company’s safety. Why wasn’t this tour bus company put out of service before the crash that killed 4 and severely injured dozens of others? How many other unsafe tour busses are continuing to operate?

Families of those injured or killed in the crash should know that Sky Express Inc. had violations for unsafe driving, fatigued driving, inadequate driver fitness and vehicle maintenance in the 24 months prior to the 5/31 tour bus crash in Virginia. The 5/31 crash was likely the result of fatigued driving. Sky Express performed worse in the area of fatigued driving safety than 77% of other tour bus companies in this group. Sky Express performed worse than 97% of other carriers in the area of Driver Fitness. This statistic was published by the FMCSA long before this month’s crash. So why the heck wasn’t this bus company taken out of service until after the crash?

In a recent press release the FMCSA seems to brag and take credit for putting this company out of service now-after the crash. It seems to me that the FMCSA should have put this company out of service before the crash. The FMCSA press release indicates that they have a strike force that issued citations to 127 drivers and 315 vehicles from May1 through May 15, 2011. My question and concern is why – if a company has numerous violations – shouldn’t they be put out of service sooner??? The whole goal is to stop these companies that cut corners with regard to safety from operating. Somehow the system failed with regard to Sky Express and as a result there are dozens of families grieving and struggling.

Silver Spring Personal injury attorneys at our law firm represent victims of the Sky Express Crash and we are actively looking into these issues and also Goldberg Finnegan is investigating the crash. Our accident lawyers are interested in speaking with passengers on the bus about what they recall about the crash and what was happening on the bus from the time it left North Carolina until the time of the crash. Kevin Goldberg can be reached at (888) 213-8140.

Families of those involved in the Sky Express crash should putting their own uninsured motorist carriers on notice of their injuries from this crash and consider making a PIP/MedPay Claim on their own insurance policies. Our initial investigation shows that there was only $5,000,000.00 in liability insurance on the Sky Express Bus and we are concerned that this may not be enough to compensate everyone that was injured and killed in this catastrophe.