Feds Order Limousine Company in Fatal I-90 Crash to Shut Down

A 20-year-old driver who told authorities he crashed a limo on I-90 near Elgin when he became blinded by the sun had a history of traffic violations and the company he worked for has now been shut down, federal authorities said Tuesday.

The crash claimed the life of Terri Schmidt, 53, of Monona, Wis., and injured five others in the limo when it collided in the eastbound lanes of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway just west of Route 25 at about 7:10 a.m. on March 25, the Chicago Tribune reports. The limo crashed into a wall and rolled over.

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The group was headed to O'Hare International Airport where they were planning to fly to Mexico for a vacation, ABC 7 Chicago reports.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Edgerton, Wis.-based Lyons Limousine to cease all operations after a federal investigation found the carrier to pose an imminent hazard to public safety. FMCSA served the Imminent Hazard Order on the owners of the limousine company, Mary and Patrick Lyons, according to a press release.

A federal compliance review investigation conducted by FMCSA safety investigators found Lyons Limousine to be in violation of multiple federal safety regulations including: repeatedly using an underaged driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle, failing to conduct required pre-employment background checks on its drivers, failing to maintain any records of maintenance, and failing to monitor its drivers hours of service to prevent fatigued driving.

The driver of the limo, Aaron Nash, was 20 years old at the time of the crash and did not meet federal standards, which require interstate commercial drivers to be at least 21 years old, the Daily Herald reports. In addition, Nash's personal driver's license had been suspended by the state of Wisconsin on Sept. 10, 2015, for failure to pay a fine.

He had also been convicted on five separate occasions beginning on April 11, 2012 through June 7, 2015 for: speeding, obstruction of traffic in a property damage crash, following too closely in a property damage crash, failing to obey a traffic sign or signal, and failing to fasten a seat belt. The federal investigation also showed he had been dispatched by Lyons Limousine on at least two other occasions in March.

The investigation revealed that the Lyons Limousine did not possess safety and operating authority registration or maintain the required levels of public liability insurance and also found the company failed to conduct the required background checks on its two drivers, one of whom was an owner of the company, Mary Lyons.

"Neither the 20-year-old driver nor Mary Lyons possessed a valid medical examiner’s certificate and both had poor driving records," according to the press release. "These deficiencies should have been discovered had the company conducted the investigations required under the federal regulations."

Between May 1, 2013 and August 14, 2014, Mary Lyons was convicted for: failing to fasten a seat belt on one occasion and speeding on two other separate occasions. On September 4, 2013, Mary Lyons’ personal driver’s license had been suspended by the state of Wisconsin for failure to pay a fine.

>>> One Person Dies in Rollover Limo Crash on I-90 Near Elgin-Dundee