Articles Posted in Bus Accidents

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michael-mroczek-199379-copy-300x200For parents and their neighbors in Rancho Bernardo, it is important to understand important school bus safety laws as kids throughout California return to school. We can all take steps to prevent bus accidents. However, according to a recent report from CBS News, many drivers do not always obey school bus safety laws simply because they do not know them. Now is the time to learn because the California Highway Patrol (CHP) plans to conduct pedestrian safety enforcement operations along the California coast in the coming school days.

What are School Bus Laws in California?

In short, it is important for motorists to know how to behave around a school bus (and how to obey the law). In particular, if you are driving behind a school bus that is picking up or dropping off children, or if you are approaching such a bus from the opposite direction, what does the law require you to do? The report emphasizes the importance of understanding and abiding by the following laws to prevent child pedestrian accidents and fatalities:

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stephane-milot-135111-copy-300x169Over the last several years in areas around San Clemente, tour bus accidents have resulted in serious and fatal injuries. In most—if not all—of these bus crashes, investigators have suggested that the accidents could have been prevented. What are cities in Orange County and San Diego County doing to prevent similar crashes in the future? According to a recent article in The Mercury News, there is a new law in California allowing cities and counties to request tour bus inspections from the California Highway Patrol, yet most cities and counties in the state simply are not using the rule to help avoid tour bus collisions.

Using Assembly Bill 1677 to Prevent Tour Bus Crashes in California

As of January 2017, Assembly Bill 1677 has been in effect. What does this law do? The text of the bill explains that it requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), “upon request of, and in consultation with, representatives of a local government in a jurisdiction where tour buses operate, [to] develop protocols for entering into memoranda of understanding with local governments to allow the department to increase the number of the locally operating tour buses that are being inspected by the department.”

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800px-Los_angeles_charter_bus_(323-373-3085_)When we board tour buses or other modes of public transportation in Southern California, most of us do not immediately worry about the risk of a serious bus accident. However, as a recent article in CNN News emphasizes, bus accidents can happen almost anywhere and without warning. A tour bus that had been carrying passengers to Los Angeles from a casino crashed into a large truck, resulting in 13 fatalities and 31 serious injuries.

How did the bus accident happen? What causes most public transit accidents in Southern California?

Details of the Fatal California Bus Crash

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800px-Interior_school_busLast year, the tragic death of a student in a school bus accident prompted California legislators to take action. Late last month, according to a recent article in the Whittier Daily News, a 19-year-old autistic teenager was left unattended in the back of a bus on a particularly warm day. At that time, no protocols were in place to require school bus drivers to check individual seats to ensure that no children were present on the bus. At the same time, school buses were not required to have alarms to help ensure that no kids are left unattended on hot school buses. Given the frequent high temperatures in Southern California, it is extremely important to have standards in place to ensure that children are safe when they take the bus to school or to school-related activities.

Now, as the article explains, Senator Tony Mendoza’s proposed legislation, S.B. 1072, passed the California State Senate unanimously at the end of last month, and now the bill is just waiting for a signature from Governor Jerry Brown.

School Bus Safety for Students

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According to a recent report from ABC News, a bus accident in San Francisco resulted in serious injuries to 20 people, including a bicyclist, car passengers, pedestrians, and tourists on the bus. Investigators continue to look into the causes of the accident, but early witness reports indicated that the double-decker bus “went out of control” in the moments before the crash, according to another report from CBS News. What happened in Northern California? And how can San Diego residents and visitors to Southern California prevent deadly bus accidents?

Bicyclist, Pedestrians Struck By Tour Bus

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Bus2Are children at risk of suffering a serious injury in a school bus accident? Do we need to consider the risks of traumatic brain injuries when we rely on school transportation? According to a recent report in the Times of San Diego, eight kids sustained injuries earlier this month while aboard a school bus that “made an abrupt stop.” The accident occurred close to Flinn Springs County Park in the later afternoon. At the time of the injuries, the bus had been carrying about 50 children. The California Highway Patrol indicated that many of those young students “reported hitting their heads as the vehicle lurched to a stop.”

Emergency responders ended up transporting eight of those kids to a local hospital for “precautionary exams.” Those medics evaluated numerous other children at the scene of the accident who complained of hitting their heads. What caused the accident and injuries? According to the California Highway Patrol, “the driver of the bus may have braked hard to avoid a collision.”

Deadly School Bus Accidents are Not the Norm

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Back in 2010, a deadly bus accident in Fresno resulted in the death of six people, including the bus driver and two passengers. According to a recent article in the Fresno Bee, a jury just decided in favor of Greyhound Lines, Inc. in a lawsuit related to the case, prompting the newspaper to report that, “this time, Goliath won.”

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Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed By Victims’ Families

Sylvia Garay, Vanessa Gonzalez, and Stephanie Cordoba were among the victims killed in the deadly bus crash on Highway 99. The victims sustained fatal injuries “when a streaking bus plowed into” their SUV. Their families filed a wrongful death claim in Fresno County Superior Court, but the jury voted 10-2 in favor of Greyhound Lines, Inc. Reports indicate that the jury deliberated “less than three hours after a six-week trial, then left without speaking to attorneys in the case.”

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School Bus Accident in Anaheim Hills Increases Safety Concerns

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Are children safe when they board a school bus headed toward home after a long day in the classroom?  With news of the deadly school bus crash involving a FedEx truck, it’s not surprising that parents would be more concerned about school bus safety.  But a recent bus accident in the Anaheim Hills isn’t doing much to allay concerns.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the bus accident in the Anaheim Hills left six people injured.  The school bus had been carrying a total of 12 people, including the driver and 11 middle-school students, from an after-school activity at El Rancho Charter School.  Residents of the Anaheim Hills could hear students screaming for help just moments after the accident, and according to the news story, many “Good Samaritans rushed to free them from the wrecked vehicle.”

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san-diego-school-bus_accident_lawyerIt seems there has been a rash of school bus accidents in Southern California lately. Some have been small, causing only property damage, and others have been devastating, claiming lives or causing serious injury, like the one in Orange County this week.

Parents of children involved in these accidents often don’t know where to turn for answers after an injury to a child in one of these cases. In most cases, they are happy with the school their child attends, and sometimes even know and like the driver of the bus.  Suing the school district is often not the first impulse.

As a law firm that has represented victims of bus accidents such as these, we thought it might be helpful do address some of the regulations that cover school buses, and the liability that arises from these accidents.

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