Suit: GPS could have prevented fatal Megabus crash

By Michael Hinkelman, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted: August 08, 2011

A King of Prussia woman who was critically injured when a Megabus in which she was a passenger rammed into a low railroad bridge near Syracuse, N.Y. in September 2010 says in a lawsuit in federal district court here that the crash could have been prevented had the bus been equipped with a GPS device.

Investigators said the bus driver, John Tomazewski, missed the exit from Interstate 81 for a regional transportation center and ended up on a nearby parkway. Megabus officials have said company policy prohibits the use of GPS devices while driving.

Lo Wah Chu, 56, suffered "catastrophic, permanent and disabling" injuries in the accident, the lawsuit said, including traumatic brain injury, severe injury to the cervical spine, massive trauma to the head, trunk, extremities and other body parts and dementia.

At the time of the accident, which killed four, the double-decker bus was enroute to Toronto from Philadelphia. Chu was seated on the upper level of the bus, which struck the bridge first before rolling onto its side, the lawsuit states.

The suit seeks at least $75,000 in damages and names Megabus LLC Northest, Coach USA and Tomazewski as defendants.

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