School Bus Accidents: How Do They Happen?

Many school districts are very careful to properly maintain their school buses and ensure they are safe to operate. But some accidents can stem from issues with the buses themselves. In cases of mechanical errors with a bus, it could be possible that a school district bears liability for failure to maintain the vehicle. But a defective part could make the part manufacturer liable. Driver negligence can often be a cause of several school bus accidents.

Some of the most frequent examples of school bus driver negligence include

Failure to yield
Driver fatigue
Speeding
Lack of training
Unsafe driving in road conditions
Overloaded vehicle
Other traffic violations

Students can suffer a wide variety of possible injuries in school bus accidents

Broken bones
Sprains
Muscle strains
Spinal cord injuries
Paralysis
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
Disfigurement

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), students are about 70 times more likely to get to school safely when taking a bus than in a car. NHTSA reported that of 1,147 of the 320,874 fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes between 2007 and 2016, 0.4 percent were classified as school-transportation-related. One thousand two hundred eighty-two people were killed in school-transportation-related crashes, an average of 128 yearly fatalities. According to NHTSA, 70 percent of the people killed in school-transportation-related crashes were occupants of other vehicles. Nonoccupants such as pedestrians represented 20 percent of the fatalities, and 9 percent of the fatalities were occupants of the school transportation vehicles. NHTSA reported that 118 occupants of school transportation vehicles, including 50 drivers and 68 passengers. 98 school-age pedestrians (18 years of age and younger) were killed in school transportation-related crashes between 2007 and 2016. There were also 216 pedestrian fatalities in these crashes. These include 163 cases of pedestrians being struck by school transportation vehicles and 52 cases in which they were struck by another vehicle.

Contact a Personal Injury Attorney in New York

If your child sustained serious injuries or was killed in a school bus accident in New York, contact Hach & Rose, LLP for help getting the compensation you deserve. Call 212-779-0057 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation today with a knowledgeable team member.