A surprise inspection of tour buses at Yosemite National Park the other day turned up a high number of buses with safety issues, and two were immediately taken out of service, according to park officials.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in conjunction with the California Highway Patrol, and the National Park Service held the surprise inspection Wednesday for all commercial for hire multiple passenger tour buses in the park. The purpose of these unannounced inspections is to ensure visitor safety through safe operation of tour buses. Specifically, officials hope to reduce the chances of crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving tour buses bringing passengers to Yosemite.
According to a park release, roadside inspections adhere to the guidelines of the North American Standard for bus safety. There are five levels of inspections, including a vehicle component, a driver component, or a combination of both. Inspections are designed to determine if buses are in compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Violations may result in fines or taking a bus out of service immediately.
Yosemite receives approximately 3.5 million visitors per year, with approximately 250,000 arriving on a tour bus. The large majority of tour bus passengers are international visitors from countries such as Japan, Korea, Germany, and England. Many of these visitors come to Yosemite in conjunction with visiting other parts of California.
It is a primary concern of the NPS in Yosemite that these visitors are safe during their travels in the park.
There were 24 buses inspected in the park Wednesday. Of those 24 inspections, nine buses were found to be safe and were released with no citation. Fifteen buses were cited for unsafe operation and two were taken out of service.
The inspections were to continue Thursday.
Comments
I give up. Some people have retired and have absolutely nothing to do but nitpick peoples' comments to death, putting words and meaning where none existed.
There is absolutely no difference as to whether it is American citizens killed and maimed in a bus accident, or if it is international travlers who are killed and maimed in a bus accident. The reason I said international travlers is because the last two big accidents in California that killed and maimed their occupants were busses hauling international travlers. That is the ONLY reason. I did not in any way mean to infer it was more tragic than if they had been American citizens.
So go ahead and pick this comment to death now, as this is my final answer.
Retired? God, I wish! But seriously, there's no need to get bent out of shape over my comment.
But just in case I haven't yet made Kurt mad too, here's some real nitpicking:
Kurt said:
(Emphasis mine)
When I read this I figured the first bold "these visitors" referred to the subject of the previous sentence, "the large majority" of International travelers. It would follow that the next bold "these visitors" in the next sentence also refers to the same group, thus Yosemite's primary concern is the safety of International visitors. That seemed odd, given that I thought we were talking about unsafe buses, not whether Yosemite was risking the harming foreign nationals in particular.
Call me an old curmudgeon (I'm 35 and giving unsolicited critiques of Kurt's writing is just a pleasurable hobby), but I'm still wondering how these International visitors are relevant to a bus safety article. :-)
Just this past winter a bus carrying Japanese tourists who had visited Death Valley and Lake Mead overturned on the Hoover Dam. 7 people were killed. I'm not sure exactly what had caused that accident. It could have been something wrong with the bus or bad driving, but maybe an inspection could have stopped that from happening. I commend the parks because often our roads are curvier and steeper than the average road in America. Making sure the busses are in top shape and able to handle this is a way to keep the visitors safe. Obviously the bus companies aren't doing it, so someone should look out for the people who are putting their lives in the hands of these bus companies.