Articles Posted in Bus Accidents

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Every school day, children are loaded onto school buses around the country.  Most school districts contract with school bus companies and drivers to transport our children to their schools. 

If something goes terribly wrong and a child is injured in a school bus crash, you need someone to advocate and fight for your family’s rights. 

Negligence by a school bus driver or another motorist can cause school bus collisions.  It is known that school bus drivers can be distracted by cell phones and GPS devices, just as other motorists can.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has stated that U.S. truck and bus regulators are not taking steps to prevent serious safety hazards before fatal crashes.  The NTSB claims that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has known about deficiencies in bus company practices before some fatal crashes but took no steps to correct them.  The government agency, FMCSA, has known about these deficiencies before the deadly fatal accidents, but did not take any action to shut down carriers until afterwards.  The National Transportation Safety Board chairman said in a statement that some are under investigation by the agency. 

The report said that there has been a long period of time, maybe years, that the FMCSA has chosen not to take action against some bus companies despite repeated safety citations.  The report also reinforced the fact that the FMCSA did nothing to take some of the buses off the road. 

The chairman of NTSB, Deborah Hersman, said in a statement that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration needs to crack down before crashes occur, not just after high visibility events.  Ms. Hersman also stated that poorly performing bus companies were on the FMCSA’s radar for violations, but the federal regulators didn’t take any action and allowed these bus companies to continue operating.

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The number of highway deaths in the United States in 2012 rose to 33,561.  This was an increase of more than 1,000 deaths from 2011.  This data was provided preliminarily by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The same report of data from NHTSA revealed that the number of deaths of occupants in large trucks and semi-trailer trucks increased substantially for the third consecutive year.  The increase was 8.9% in 2012 from the previous year. 

According to NHTSA information, there were 697 large truck occupant deaths that occurred in 2012. That was a 20% increase in fatalities of large truck occupants from 2011. 

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Under a federal rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that was passed on Nov. 21, 2013, new tour buses and buses that provide services between cities must be equipped with seatbelts.  This new federal rule goes into effect beginning in November 2016. 

This safety measure was initiated by accident investigators.  The movement to require safety belts on buses has been an ongoing battle for more than 50 years. 

Beginning in November 2016, all new motor coaches and some other large buses must be manufactured with seatbelts, which includes a 3-point lap-shoulder belt.  Unfortunately, this federal rule doesn’t apply to school buses or public city transit buses.  It seems odd that it wouldn’t provide for the safety of children as well as adults on public buses. 

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A bill signed into law by Illinois Gov. Patrick J. Quinn permits the Illinois Secretary of State to retroactively invalidate a driver’s license if the minor had a citation for which a disposition had not been rendered when the license was issued. In other words, a permit driver, 18 years old or younger, who has a pending traffic ticket, will be unable to obtain an Illinois driver’s license. 

This new law is effective immediately. The House Bill 1009 was sponsored by Rep. John D’Amico and Sen. Martin Sandoval, both Chicago Democrats.

In addition, the new law allows prosecutors to request the court to invalidate a driver’s license if he or she caused death or serious injury while breaking traffic rules.

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Dorma Lawson, age 59, was driving northbound on Western Avenue in Chicago Heights, Ill., when she stopped to make a left turn into a bank parking lot north of Lincoln Highway. Lawson’s car was then rear-ended by a Kickert school bus. Lawson claimed that she sustained soft tissue injuries to her neck, back and left knee. She had arthroscopic knee surgery, which showed that she did not have a torn meniscus.

Lawson is on disability due to a hip injury alleged to have been caused by this crash. The defendant bus driver, Patricia Savage, age 34, claimed that Lawson made a sudden stop and did not use her left turn signal. This, Savage said, was the cause of the crash. 

The defendants also argued that the impact was very minor. Defendants maintained that Lawson was not injured to the extent that she claimed, and that her disability was unrelated to the crash.

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