June 20, 2008
by Christine Yeres
The bus that veered off 120 into brush and a tree at Suzanne Lane Thursday, June 19, had been inspected the very day of its crash, according to Seth Corwin of Chappaqua Bus Company.
Corwin has heard since from a resident of New Castle who witnessed the incident that the driver was not speeding at the time. The driver was the only person on board the bus at the time of the crash; no children were on it. He sustained minor injuries and was taken to the Westchester Medical Center at Valhalla. After ambulance crew members had taken the driver from the scene, tow trucks had to wait for Con Ed crews to arrive and secure wire-bearing poles whose integrity had been compromised by the impact of the bus. A 60 foot tree at the nose of the bus had been tipped by 30 degrees from its original upright position.
The driver told Corwin afterwards that “when he pressed on the brake the bus started to go faster.” “We suspect,” continued Corwin, “that the driver pressed both pedals with one foot. The pedals can be a little closer than in a regular car.” The driver has no record of mishaps. Although new this year to the Chappaqua bus employee crew, the driver drove many years for the Bedford bus company that Corwin recently acquired. The driver came along with the Bedford contract. In fact, the bus was one of the Bedford contract buses – which all belong now to “Chappaqua Transportation” – so although it works out of Bedford, it had been inspected here in New Castle.
The damage was enough that Corwin considers it totaled. “With a conventional bus,” he says, “ you might replace some parts, but with this kind of flat-nosed bus, there’s not much we can do with it. Actually, there is something to do with it, says Corwin: he’s already offered the hulk to the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps for a mass casualty incident training drill along with C.E.R.T, the Chappaqua and Millwood Fire Departments and the New Castle Police Department.
Copyright 2008 NewCastleNOW.org