Articles Posted in School Bus Accidents

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.
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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.
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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.

1141363_school_rules.jpgInjury 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.

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