Dahlia Travel and Tours, the bus company involved in a fatal crash in Queens Monday morning, has a history of unsafe driving, according to federal records, and was previously involved in multiple accidents.
Records from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicate instances of speeding, improper passing and failure to obey a “traffic control device” over seven different driving violations since Sept. 5, 2015.
Dahlia Group Inc., as the company is officially called, is a Flushing-based charter bus service. A Dahlia bus collided with an MTA bus Monday morning, resulting in three deaths and at least 16 people injured.
Dahlia’s on-road performance is worse than 83 percent of motor carriers in the same safety group, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
In February of 2003, a casino-bound Dahlia bus headed from New York to Atlantic City flipped onto its side after spinning out on the Garden State Parkway, killing two and injuring 28 passengers, according to the New York Times.
The Times noted then that Dahlia had a “worse-than-average” record with the New York State Department of Transportation, including buses with “major defects,” many involving the fleet’s brake systems.
In February of 2016, another casino-bound Dahlia bus crashed in Connecticut, resulting in nearly 40 people injured, according to the Hartford Courant.
The driver of the bus, which was en route from New York to the Mohegan Sun casino, was changing lanes when he lost control in the snow, hitting the metal barrier on I-95 and flipping onto its side, according to reports.
On Yelp, Dahlia has less than 10 reviews, but all of them are one star and include warnings about the drivers. Some reviews come from people who weren’t even on a Dahlia bus themselves, but claim they were nearly run off the road by Dahlia drivers.
The National Transportation Safety Board said that it is sending a team to New York to investigate Monday’s crash.
