Category: Bus Accidents

Many people choose to travel by bus, believing that the bus, bus driver, and owner will ensure a safe and convenient means of transportation. Most of the time, bus trips are safe and the passengers on board arrive at their destinations without incident. Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky, though, with some bus passengers becoming the victims of bus accidents every year.

When a passenger on board a bus is injured in an accident, that passenger may be entitled to financial relief for his or her damages. A victim can seek to recover through the use of a civil claim for damages including things like medical and surgical expenses, lost wages, and permanency of injuries. If you have been involved in an accident, speaking with a personal injury lawyer may help you understand your legal rights and options following a crash.

A tragic accident in California occurred today and left at least 10 people dead. At this time, local authorities have confirmed that a collision between a charter tour bus and a truck on Interstate 5. It appears that a driver of a FedEx truck crossed a barrier and continued traveling until it sideswiped a car and then collided with the bus in a head-on collision.

The bus was transporting Los Angels and San Francisco high school students to Humboldt State for a college tour. The program targets first generation and low income prospective college students to Humboldt State to introduce the students to the campus. Five of those students were killed in the crash in addition to the driver of the bus, the driver of the truck, and three chaperones. In addition to those victims that lost their lives, many others sustained serious injuries. In all, at least thirty-four people were transported to hospitals in the area by either land or air ambulance.

The force of the crash caused massive devastation to the three vehicles involved, leaving pieces of the vehicles littering the highway. Police are still sorting through the facts of the crash and interviewing witnesses to the incident.
Continue reading “10 People Killed When Truck Hit Tour Bus”

Lives could be saved if passengers were buckled up in the event of a Phoenix, Arizona bus accident, the Arizona Republic reported.

The Department of Transportation has proposed the new rule requiring belts for all passengers on tour buses, contending that the measure could have saved the lives of Arizonians killed in a fatal bus rollover in Utah in 2008. If the charges go into effect, all new buses will have lap-and-shoulder belts within three years.

However, the rules would not apply to the 29,000 buses already on the road; and the proposal falls short of some federal safety recommendations.

As our Phoenix accident attorneys have reported on our Phoenix Injury Lawyer Blog, a number of high-profile Arizona bus accidents have authorities pushing for increased safety measures.

On average, 750 million passengers travel on motor coaches each year — more than the total number of airline passengers. Sightseeing trips and cross-country tours are common. Few of these buses have seat belts and accidents can be catastrophic.

The DOT reports nearly 200 passengers have been killed in the last decade, including 9 who were killed on a ski-trip bus that was en route back to the Valley in 2008. More than half of the deaths involve ejections — something safety advocates contend could be largely prevented with the use of seat belts. DOT claims the use of seat belts could reduce fatalities in rollover crashes by 77 percent.

They use the 2008 crash as an example: The bus driver, who was wearing a seat belt, and one passenger remained on the bus. The other 52 passengers were ejected into the snow and darkness. Nine people were killed and 44 were injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the driver was going too fast but also said the lack of safety features contributed to the serious and fatal injuries.

“Contributing to the accident’s severity was the lack of an adequate motor coach occupant protection system,” the agency’s report said. This was because of the Department of Transportation’s “delay in developing and promulgating standards to enhance the protection of motor-coach passengers.”

The board has long called for seat belts and other safety measures on buses, including stronger roofs, emergency window exits and shatter-proof glass.

DOT estimates the cost for seat belts would be about $12,900 in each of the 2,000 new coaches sold each year in the United States.

However, medium size coaches, including school buses, would not be affected. Neither would the almost 30,000 motor coaches on the road.

A four-car Phoenix car accident on Monday night sent at least four people to the hospital, including three young girls, AZ Family reported.

The crash at 27th Avenue and Southern Avenue involved a total of 8 patients, four of whom refused treatment. In addition to the girls, ages 11, nine and six months, an adult male was also transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

On Tuesday night, a rollover accident seriously injured a teenager in West Phoenix. The Phoenix Fire Department responded to 67th Avenue near Ecanto Boulevard after two vehicles collided and one flipped over. It is unclear what caused the two pickup trucks to collide.

A 19-year-old was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital with serious injuries. The intersection was closed for most of the night while officials investigated and cleanup crews removed debris from the roadway.

Our Arizona injury lawyers continue to report on the large number of traffic accidents involving teenagers. A total of 150 motorists were killed in Arizona accidents involving young drivers in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Meanwhile, authorities are still trying to determine how the identities of two teens were mixed up following an Arizona car accident. The Associated Press reported that a heavy caseload and a delay in examining dental records led to the horrendous error.

As we reported last week on our Phoenix Injury Lawyer Blog, one family spent a week preparing for a funeral while the other family spent the week at the bedside of a teen recovering from the accident.

Authorities then had to acknowledge that they had misidentified the surviving teenager.

Federal authorities have fined a Van Nuys busing company more than $72,000 for safety violations in the wake of a Phoenix bus accident that killed six passengers in March, according to the Arizona Republic.

We reported in April on our Phoenix Injury Lawyer Blog that a 130-page report by the Arizona Department of Public Safety blamed negligent operation and numerous safety violations for the accident. Six of 22 passengers were killed when the bus plunged off the freeway and overturned. It had been traveling from Los Angeles to New Mexico when it struck a pickup truck on I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the $72,760 fine on Monday. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recommended the fines as a result of its investigation.

The federal government charged the owner of the busing company with 78 violations of 13 motor-carrier safety regulations. Violations include operating without federal authority or required insurance and violating driver qualification, hours of service and maintenance requirements. The company has until July 12 to contest the claims.

The Republic reports that the company has a history of violations and was suspended from operating for lack of insurance in April 2009. The owner allegedly used four different names over a period of several years in order to evade federal orders to cease operations.

The Arizona Department of Transportation reports that 233 Arizona bus accidents occurred in 2008, the last year for which statistics are available. Four people were killed and 45 were seriously injured.