Injuries Relating to School Bus Accidents
Have your children been injured in a school bus accident? Our experienced bus accident lawyers can help your family! If neglect was present, your family can receive compensation for your children's medical expenses and injuries by contacting our New York Bus Accident Lawyers at Finz & Finz, P.C. today! Throughout the United States, more than 23.5 million children ride school buses daily to their elementary and secondary schools, twice a day. However, many school buses lack proper restraint systems or seatbelts, which results in 12,000 injured children each year. Though the majority of injuries may be minor, some can be tragic and as many as 11 children die each year in school bus accidents.
While many school buses have designed seatbelt restraints, safety of school buses can be improved. Children often do not wear their seatbelts and can be ejected from the school bus in an accident or collision. However, the majority of serious injuries caused by school buses often involve passengers boarding and disembarking from the large vehicle.
The majority of serious injuries associated with school buses relate to passenger boarding and leaving the large vehicles. Passing motorists have often been a factor when they disregard the school bus caution and stop signals. Children crossing the street without proper caution or when a bus driver loses sight of a child and either turns off the signals prematurely or strikes the child with the school bus are incidents that have lead to serious injury. Serious school bus accidents have also occurred in highway accidents, or where school buses roll over or go off of the roadway due to negligence or unsafe road conditions. Contact our New York Bus Accident Lawyers to learn about your family's rightful compensation for injuries incurred.
Safety of School Buses
A traditional school bus weighs approximately 10,000 pounds or more and relies on "compartmentalization" for protection of passengers. Seats are equipped with four-inches of thick foam to help separate passengers and the school bus itself is designed to absorb the external impact from an accident. While this design has been effective for certain types of school bus accidents, the lack of restraints could still allow passengers to be ejected in rollover accidents.
Common Causes of New York School Bus Accidents
Like other large motor vehicles, school buses are more likely to inflict serious injury or fatal casualties on the occupants of any other cars involved in a collision due to its size. However, most commonly, school bus passengers are killed from being run over or hit by the bus. It is extremely important that schoolchildren are taught proper safety procedures for boarding and exiting school buses.
School bus drivers must also be properly trained, using appropriate caution when loading and unloading passengers. If your school bus driver was not cautious while driving, contact our New York Lawyers today!
Many states also have laws requiring that cars following a school bus must wait to pass until the bus begins to move again or its signal and caution lights are turned off.
Legal Help for School Bus Accident Victims
If you, a family member or friend have suffered a serious injury from a school bus accident, contact our New York Bus Accident Lawyers for a Free Case Evaluation today or call (888) FINZ-FIRM.
