Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

The Lee County School District has a plan and its transportation department plans to get your children to and from school on time this year.

Parents are still concerned about the yellow buses getting their children to school safely.

Every year, more than 25 million students across the country use school buses to get to school and back each day. Unfortunately, many people are injured in the process. According to the National Safety Council, there were 134 deaths resulting from school bus-related traffic accidents in 2005 alone. Another 11,000 were injured in these incidents.

Lee County school buses transport about 48,000 students every year. That's more than half of the county's 85,000 student population. Lee transportation operates nearly 700 school buses every school year. A lot of parents still worry about sending their children out to the bus stops with the congested traffic of the morning rush hour. Talking with your child about safe bus-riding habits can help to reduce their risks of child injury in Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral.

Our Naples personal injury attorneys would first like to wish all of our students a happy school year. Getting to and from school can be the most dangerous part of your child's day. Luckily, Joseph Burke, Lee County's new superintendent, says that he and the district aren't done with their safe bus stop efforts. While the county continues to search for shorter bus route for students, the school board is still keeping safety as a top priority.

Of Florida's 67 school districts, Charlotte and Lee counties have some of the earliest school start times. Parents oftentimes worry about their children heading to the bus stop before the sun even comes up.

Of all the school bus-related accident injuries from 2000 to 2005, nearly 50 percent of them were sustained by the passengers of a school bus, nearly 10 percent were by the school bus drivers and more than 40 percent were sustained by occupants of other motor vehicles. During the same time period, more than 80 percent of school bus-accident fatalities happened when a pedestrian was hit by a bus.

The National Safety Council offers these safety tips for students riding the school bus this year:

-Don't play around while waiting at your bus stop. Carelessness can lead to accidents.

-Line up as the bus pulls up to your stop.

-Don't step onto the road until the bus has come to a complete stop and has opened its doors.

-When you're getting on the bus, use the handrail.

-Once you're on the bus sit down and talk with an inside voice.

-Keep your hands, arms and head inside the bus.

-Keep books, bags and other items out of the bus' aisle.

-Don't stand up to exit the bus at your stop until the bus has come to a complete stop.

-Always stay at least 10 feet away from the bus.

-Make sure the driver sees you and signals before crossing the road if you need to.

-Look in all directions for oncoming traffic before you cross the street.

Continue reading "Parents Concerned with More than On-Time School Buses - Child Injury in Fort Myers" »

Who said Monday's are quiet? A typical Monday's worth of news in Southwest Florida shows just how dangerous our roads can be at the height of tourism season. Our Fort Myers personal injury lawyers urge you to take driving safety seriously.

And please speak with your teenagers and aging loved ones. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among teens. The only drivers at higher risk are those over the age of 75. Staying safe behind the wheel can be as simple as not driving under the influence, not speeding, and not driving distracted. Statistics show as many as two-thirds of all fatal crashes involve one of those three activities.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports 2,563 motorists were killed in Florida car accidents last year -- that's more than seven people a day. Florida is one of the leading states in virtually every major fatal accident category, including bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, drunk driving accidents, motorcycle accidents and trucking accidents.

A typical Monday's news:

Women Struck by Deputy's Car: A Naples bicycle accident occurred when a Collier County sheriff's cruiser collided with a bicyclist walking across the street (Warning: this links to graphic video).

Bicyclist Struck by Truck in North Fort Myers: A 57-year-old man is in critical condition after being struck by a pickup on Pine Island Road. The North Fort Myers bicycle accident occurred near Orchid Road.

Crash Causing Delays on Sanibel Causeway: Delays were reported approaching the island as a result of the Sanibel car accident.

Fort Myers Police Search for Suspects in Hit-and-Run: The Fort Myers car accident occurred when a Buick struck two vehicles at State Road 82 and Forum Boulevard.

Relative of Crash Victim wants Traffic Light at Cape Coral Intersection: The intersection of Pine Island Road and Skyline Boulevard is among the county's most-dangerous. There have been 131 accidents and seven deaths in the last five years.

Fort Myers man, 72, Suffers Minor Injuries in School Bus Crash: The Fort Myers school bus accident occurred when the man's truck was rear-ended by a bus carrying 11 elementary students.

Continue reading "Lee County accidents abound on any Monday in Season " »

A Fort Myers school bus accident sent an elementary school student and a driver to the hospital this week, after a ladder fell out of a van and into the path of the bus.

The News-Press reported that the driver and a 6-year-old boy were transported to Lee Memorial Hospital for treatment.

The 68-year-old driver of the van was headed north on Hart Road in the area of Forest Park Drive when the ladder came loose from the van's roof. The ladder fell into the path of the bus. The Florida Highway Patrol cited the van's driver for hauling an unsecured load.

School bus accident cases can be complicated by multiple victims, competing claims and multiple defendants and insurance companies. In this case, at-fault parties may include the van's owner and driver, as well as its insurance carrier, any umbrella liability policy that may be in place if the van is a commercial vehicle owned by a business, and the school bus owner and/or school district and their insurance carriers.

An experienced Fort Myers accident attorney should be consulted whenever a child is seriously injured on school property, including sports injuries, assault and transportation accidents. Child injury and recovery may be complicated by growth and other factors. In other cases, the full extent of injuries may not be readily apparent for weeks or even months after injury.

The National Coalition for School Bus Safety reports more than 26,000 school bus accidents have occurred over the last decade, resulting in more than 7,000 injuries.

An average of 19 students are killed in bus accidents each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Many of those involve pedestrian accidents as students board or deboard.

Bus accidents can also pose serious risk to other motorists on the road. Like semis, school buses frequently weigh many times the weight of a 3,500 pound passenger car. Their large size and height also leave them mismatched with the bumpers of many passenger vehicles. In such cases, the occupants of a passenger vehicle are often at greatest risk.

Continue reading "Unsafe loads leads to Fort Myers school bus accident" »

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week that all new motor coaches will be required to have seat belts to prevent ejection in the event of a rollover accident. That's good news unless your child rides a school bus -- existing buses and new school buses are exempt from the requirement.

The new school year brings increased risk of a school bus accident in Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte. Student fatalities are thankfully rare, though they do happen. Just this month in St. Louis a horrific accident involving two school buses and a semi killed two students and sent 50 to the hospital. An average of 19 students die in school bus accidents each year in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Injury accidents are much more common. At risk groups include student passengers and other motorists who are involved in an accident with a school bus, which carry the increased risks often associated with being in an accident with a semi or other large commercial vehicle.

State law requires drivers to stop for school buses with activated red flashing lights. For the busy motorist, it can be helpful to remember that these laws are aimed at preventing tragedy; certainly no driver wants to be responsible for hitting a child. Passing is not permitted until the red lights and signals have been turned off. The law applies to cars traveling in the same direction, as well as traffic moving in the opposite direction. Never pass a bus on the right side where children enter or exit.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles does not distinguish between school bus accidents and accidents involving motor coaches or passenger buses. Last year, 2,163 crashes were reported. Twenty-three people were killed and 1,203 were injured.

As our children head back to school, we encourage you to speak with them about school bus safety. The following tips are provided by the NHTSA:

-Supervise children to make sure they get to the stop on time, are waiting away from the road and are avoiding rough play.

-Teach children to ask the driver for help if something is dropped near the school bus. Have a child use a backpack or book bag to keep loose items together.

-Make sure clothing and backpacks are free of long drawstrings or straps that can get caught on handrails or bus doors.

-Encourage safe loading and unloading.

-If you think your bus stop is dangerous, talk to school officials about taking corrective action before a child gets hurt.