Earlier today I posted a lengthy blog about the tragic Syracuse Megabus crash. To summarize, four people were killed today, and several others seriously injured, when a double-decker “Megabus” slammed into a railroad overpass in Salina, which is just outside of Syracuse, New York.
Update: I just read on a CNN news post the following description of the Megabus: “The bus, part of a fleet of low-cost express buses . . .” . As a Syracuse bus accident lawyer,and commercial truck accident lawyer, the words “low-cost” hit me like a ton of bricks. I have seen this story time and time again. I have handled many, many cases that repeat the same theme: Avoidable accidents caused by corporate cost cutting that short-changes safety. And all to make an extra buck! Did Coach U.S.A, the corporate owner of this bus operation, cut corners on safety to save a buck and make an extra profit? Did they hire an inexperienced, undertrained driver who got lost on his way to Toronto, deviated from the designated route, and hit the bridge he never should have been driving under? Stay tuned. Investigation continues.
So, yes, the words “greed” and “profits at the expense of safety” crossed my mind. And this brought me down. But then I read another article in the Syracuse Post Standard online that made my heart soar. The passengers’ response was so “9/11”, as is appropriate on this anniversary of the tumbling of the Towers! In the mayhem that followed the bus crash, the less-injured passengers checked the less fortunate to see who was conscious, and attended to those who were moaning for help. And Red Cross (one of the principle responders at the original 9/11) again rose to the occasion, by making mental health counselors available to the distraught passengers, and by providing prescription medication to passengers who had lost theirs in the mayhem.
This tragedy perhaps demonstrates the good, the bad and the ugly about human beings. Yes, perhaps corporate greed played a part in this tragedy. But the power of regular folks’ altruism and caring can never, ever, be underestimated.