Crime & Safety

Poll: Should Party Bus Drivers Be Responsible for Drunk Passengers?

After Santa Cruz resident Natasha Noland, 25, died the evening of July 27 from falling from a party bus in Los Gatos, lawmakers contemplate a bill that would hold bus drivers and owners responsible.

Last weekend,

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.

Under California law, party bus owners and drivers do not assume responsibility for their passengers, in contrast to limousine companies that do.

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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.

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