Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
BCJIQSFCMAAxaCe
Crashed charter bus in Boston, Massachusetts, Feb. 2, 2013. (Photo: Boston Fire Department) - Credit: Crashed charter bus in Boston, Massachusetts, Feb. 2, 2013. (Photo: Boston Fire Department)
Business
Innovation
accident
bus roof
commercial vehicle
crash
Garmin International Inc.
GPS
GPS device
GPS manufacturer
height restriction
injury
Jim Ronca
lawsuit
lawyer
luggage rack
overpass
paralyzed
Pennsylvania
TomTom NV
victim
Tuesday, 10 February 2015 - 17:24
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Bus accident victims sue TomTom, Garmin

Lawyers representing victims in a 2013 bus accident are suing Dutch GPS manufacturer TomTom NV, American rival Garmin International Inc. and their subsidiaries for more than 15 million dollars in damages. Thirty-five people from Pennsylvania, US were injured in the crash, when a charter bus rammed an overpass in Boston. The lawsuit filed last month claims that the GPS units in use did not warn that certain commercial vehicles are prohibited from particular roads due to height restrictions. GPS devices are also a distraction for the drivers, says the lawyer of one 18-year old student who was paralyzed from waist down in the accident. Passengers were injured when the bus roof crushed backwards in the crash dropping the luggage rack and television onto the heads of the passengers, the Boston Globe reports. The driver of the bus was believed to be using two GPS devices, one manufactured by TomTom and another by Garmin. Neither one of the devices were suitable for a commercial vehicle with height restrictions, though both companies manufacture GPS units for such purposes as well, says one of the victims' lawyer, Jim Ronca. “People rely on these things and tend not to remember that they have flaws, too,” Ronca told the newspaper. Ronca acknowledged that it is not known which device the driver was using at the time. The bus driver, Samuel J. Jackson, was attempting to navigate the 11-foot-tall bus on Soldiers Field Road in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Jackson told police. The road has a height restriction of ten feet. The lawsuit claims at least one sign meant to notify drivers of the reduced clearance was either damaged, missing or not visible, and all other signs were obstructed due to construction work at the overpass.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Full urn found on Zuid-Holland beach returned to relatives
  • Ajax fines Steven Berghuis for hitting a fan after season-ending loss
  • Farmers' party BBB could get 18 seats in Senate election tomorrow
  • New record for negative electricity prices due to sunny, windy weather
  • Suspects in Peter R. de Vries murder directly link to criminal kingpin Taghi: report
  • Victim in possible Spanbroek abduction spotted at Beverwijk station

Top stories

  • Police taser man on Rotterdam highway; Crashed into several people, cars
  • PM Rutte congratulates Erdogan on election victory; Dutch-Turks celebrate
  • Sunny and dry weather on last day of Pentecost long weekend
  • Man found dead in apartment in Den Bosch after laying undiscovered for five months
  • Explosion at Surinamese money exchange office in Rotterdam, suspect on the run
  • Almost 1580 XR climate activists arrested on A12, 40 prosecuted

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content