Personal Injury Law

School bus accident facts

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

While the region is still reeling from the fatal St. Louis area school bus crash on I-44, some are questioning the safety of school buses in general and looking back on what we can learn from previous incidents. The St. Louis Post Dispatch, for example, published a list of past school bus accidents in the area. Here are just of few examples from that list:

February 2010 - Three people are injured, including a child, in a head-on collision with a school bus in St. Louis.

October 2007 - 32 people are injured when a school bus flips over in Oates, Missouri.

November 2006 - Two people are killed in an Missouri school bus accident involving a bus, two tractor-trailers and a car.

August 2003 - A young girl is killed and more than a dozen more are injured when a bus runs down an embankment in Hillsboro, Illinois.

Despite these notable and tragic cases, school buses are statistically one of the safest ways for children to travel. Every year, there are about 6,000 bus related injuries and 20 deaths. Compare that to 78,000 teen drivers who are involved in an injury accident each year.

Many people note that most school buses do not come equipped with seat belts for many of the riders. While this is the case, the vast majority of injuries and fatalities in school bus crashes come from other vehicles involved in the wreck. Like tractor-trailer crashes, the large size and weight of school buses make them more dangerous to smaller passenger vehicles.

School bus accidents can be very complicated from a legal standpoint and, while they are rare, the injuries sustained can result in months of rehabilitation costing thousands of dollars. Whether an accident is caused by negligence on the part of the bus driver or another motorist, those responsible need to be held accountable and injury victims need to have the resources to make a full recovery. If you have questions about a school bus injury claim, contact a Missouri personal injury lawyer to discuss your case. Many will offer you a free consultation so there is no risk or obligation involved.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on August 08, 2010 (boomark / email).