While many people may assume that renting a limousine for a night of partying may be the safe alternative to driving while intoxicated, a new report reveals that stretch limousines may lack many of the structural safety features that ordinary passenger cars have.
A recent tragic accident that resulted in the death of four young women on a wine tasting tour exposed how stretch limousines present particular safety issues. It turns about that many limousines, after they are sold by the manufacturer, are stripped of the very safety features intended to help people in regular cars survive broadside collisions. Although manufacturers must prove that it can meet federal safety standards, after it has been bought, the new owner can modify it into a stretch limo without having to show that it is crashworthy.
To make a stretch limousine, an ordinary car is cut in half and plates are used to extend the floor and roof. Pillars in the car, running from the ceiling to the floor are normally part of the structural cage around the passenger compartment in conventional cars. But in a stretch limousine, the passenger areas are generally not protected by the pillars. As a result, when side impact crashes occur, the ordinary principles for do not apply.
People getting into limousines assume they are safe, but the stretch limousines in particular do not provide much protection to passengers in a crash. Perhaps the next time you choose to hire a limo for safety concerns for you or your children drinking and driving, you should also consider whether a stretch limousine is best alternative.
Free Evaluation: If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident, you should contact our law firm immediately. You may be entitled to compensation by filing a suit against the owner and/or manufacturer of stretch limos, and Dan Monahan can help. He has represented hundreds of clients involved in these types of accidents for over 35 years.