NTSB enters van crash probe

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the tragic van crash on Cross Bay Boulevard that claimed the lives of five disabled residents of the Brooklyn Manor Home for Adults.
According to reports, the 15-passenger van was driven by Guy Thelemaque, 55, who had been driving with a suspended license.
However, the NTSB is exploring the safety of the vehicle and others like it – not the driver.
&#8220The board has looked at 15-passenger vans and their propensity to roll over for quite some time,” said NTSB spokesperson Lauren Peduzzi.
While there are no official statistics on the rate of rollover for these &#8220non-conforming vans” (which also include ambulettes and mini-buses), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on its web site states that, &#8220nearly three-quarters of all 15-passenger vans have improperly inflated tires – leading to an increased chance of a rollover crash.” An NHTSA study found that 74 percent of all 15-passenger vans had significantly under-inflated tires.
Department of Transportation (DOT) officials said that, as of its last inspection in May, the van in question was in good condition.
Prior NHTSA research has also shown that 15-passenger vans have a rollover-risk that increases dramatically as the number of occupants increases from fewer than five to more than ten. In fact, 15-passenger vans (with ten or more occupants) had a rollover rate in single-vehicle crashes almost three times the rate of those lightly loaded (with fewer than five occupants).
The Ford Econoline van driven by Thelemaque had nine passengers aboard. According to his license certification before it was suspended, he was permitted to transport a maximum of seven passengers by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The crash in Broad Channel killed five men and critically injured two others, ages 55 to 79, as they returned from a program at Peninsula Hospital Center.
In addition, while Federal law prohibits the sale of 15-passenger vans for the school-related transport of high school age and younger students, no such prohibition exists for vehicles to transport college students or other passengers.