New York Could Ban Stretch Limos Under New Proposal

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed banning stretch limousines from the state’s roads as part of a safety crackdown on large for-hire passenger vehicles following the deadliest U.S. transportation accident in nearly a decade.

Twenty people were killed in October after a stretch Ford Excursion sport utility vehicle lost control, barreled through a stop sign and slammed into a parked SUV in Schoharie, New York.

As part of his 2020 budget proposal, Cuomo included a dozen reforms to state rules in response to the crash, including the ban on so-called remanufactured limousines, or vehicles that begin life as a normal car or SUV before being modified by specialty shops to be as long as 30 feet. He also proposed giving state regulators more powers to keep unsafe vehicles off the road, according to a statement released by his office.

“This crash was a horrific tragedy that shocked this state to its very core,” Cuomo said. “We are advancing reforms that will give aggressive new powers that will allow authorities to take dangerous vehicles off the roads without delay, hold unscrupulous businesses accountable and increase public safety in every corner of New York.”

The Democratic governor, elected to a third term in November, will be working with a Democratic majority in both houses of the Legislature for the first time. While this won’t guarantee that he’ll be able to enact all of his proposals, he made a point during his State of the State speech on Tuesday of mentioning that control of the state Senate had changed hands.