Tour bus company in fatal CA crash has history of federal maintenance violations
Tour bus accident, operated by Scapadas Magicas LLC, kills eight and injures 38 and has 59 maintenance violations in two years
Our sincere condolences and prayers go out to the families of at least eight people killed and 38 injured yesterday in California. A tour bus operated by Scapadas Magicas LLC went out of control and flipped while carrying passengers to Tijuana, Mexico.
A USA Today article, Highway Patrol: 8 dead in Calif. tour bus crash, states that Jordi Garcia, the manager the company that ran the trip, told reporters that the bus was filled with people on a skiing trip to Big Bear. “The information that we have is that the bus’ brakes failed and the accident occurred,” he said.
If true, this is not surprising. Investigation by the Truck Accident Attorneys Roundtable — operated by the law firm of Fried, Gursten & Leizerman — reveals that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) shows a history of deficient vehicle maintenance for Scapadas Magicas:
- During the past two years, its three buses have had a total of 59 violations for federal regulations relating to bus maintenance.
- Nine of these violations were severe enough to be categorized out-of-service, meaning that the violation was dangerous enough that the bus could not legally be driven until the problem was fixed.
The most severe violations included:
- Power steering violations,
- Inadequate tires and tire tread depth,
- Inoperative headlights,
- Taillights and turn signals;
- And a general brake violation.
In the past six months, Scapada Magicus has been identified in the top quarter of interstate motor carriers with 21-100 inspections that have maintenance safety concerns.
This exceeds the FMCSA’s intervention threshold, which means the tour bus company was prioritized over other motor carriers for government intervention.
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