Last weekend, a 25-year-old woman fatally fell from a party bus returning from a concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.
Natasha Noland and another young woman, both highly inebriated, allegedly began physically fighting and Noland fell from the bus and died after the bus ran over her. All the passengers--some underage-- on the bus driving on Highway 17 in Los Gatos were too drunk to recall exact details, but the bus driver was sober, .
Under California law, party bus owners and drivers do not assume responsibility for their passengers, in contrast to limousine companies that do.
Assemblyman Jerry Hill introduced his bill, AB 45, a year and a half ago to hold bus drivers and owners (in addition to limousine companies) accountable for under-age drinking.
The measure has passed in the Assembly and is working its way through the Senate.
Should bus drivers be held accountable for their passengers' behavior? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
Is this a sad story? Yes, it is. Was it avoidable? Yes, it was; but it happened none the less. At 25 t/o, she placed herself in a very bad position, things got out of control, and she became a victim of her own negligence. Further, she was no minor. Why is it that everyone else should be responsible for the actions of someone's own negligence? sister madly is right; this piece is misleading. There should not be underage people on a bus that allows drinking, but that was not the tragedy of this matter (although it could have been). The driver's job is to drive. If things get out of control and I were the driver, I'd pull the bus over, try to reduce the conflict and call 911. That should be the extent of the driver's obligation and frankly, that puts the driver in a bad spot pushing the driver to unreasonable expectations. This particular incident was avoidable. People need to take responsibility for their own actions. This appears to be a case where some are looking to avoid that point.