Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

A Palm Beach County accident involving a pickup truck and a Palm Tran bus has injured 11 people including the driver of the pickup truck. According to the Sun Sentinel's report, it is unknown yet which vehicle had the right of way in this crash, which took place in West Palm Beach on September 19, 2011.

As Coral Springs injury lawyers who handle all types of motor vehicle accidents including bus and truck accidents, we are familiar with the types of injuries that bus passengers involved in an accident can suffer. These injuries are typically more severe than a car accident because buses are not equipped with safety belts. A bus accident can lead to injuries including head injuries, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, broken bones, lacerations, and in some cases, death.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 8,452 deadly accidents, and 376,000 injury accidents involving pickup trucks in the U.S. in 2009. By comparison, far fewer bus accidents took place that same year, with 221 fatal accidents and approximately 10,000 injuries.

Continue reading "West Palm Beach Bus, Truck Accident Injures 11 " »

A Dania Beach school bus accident injured a bicyclist on July 13, 2011. 21-year-old Maurice Burrel, from Fort Lauderdale, suffered a knee injury after his bike was struck by the school bus.

According to statistics from the Department of Transportation, there were a total of 2,252 deadly bus accidents between 1999 and 2005. Of those accidents, 857 involved school buses. According to the report, approximately 63,000 buses of all types are involved in accidents each year, resulting in about 375 deaths of people including bus drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

National School Bus Safety Week is officially in October, but it is important for people to practice bus safety year-round. To learn more about "Stop on Red, Kids Ahead," and read about bus safety tips from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, click here.

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A crash in Margate on July 5, 2011 involving a fuel truck and a Broward County transit bus has injured 25 people. Police are investigating the cause of this truck accident, in which the fuel tanker apparently rear-ended the bus. The drivers of the vehicles involved were not injured.

Truck accidents can be caused by many different factors, including driver fatigue, improper vehicle maintenance, careless or reckless driving, improper driver training, speeding and drug or alcohol impairment. Accidents involving large trucks often result in serious personal injuries, including brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, and damage to internal organs. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2009, 74,000 people were injured and 3,380 were killed in accidents involving large trucks.

Accidents involving buses can be very dangerous because of their large size and weight. Additionally, buses don't provide the protection of safety belts found in many other motor vehicles.

In Florida, many buses fall under the category of common carriers, meaning the owners and operators must follow high safety standards for their passengers. When people suffer serious injuries or death at the hands of a negligent bus driver, the bus company may be vicariously liable for the accident, meaning the company will be held responsible because of its relationship to the driver.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Truck Accident Lawyer Comments on Margate Accident Involving Fuel Truck and Broward Bus" »

A Palm Beach County bus accident on July 1, 2011 has left at least five people injured. Police are investigating the cause of the accident, which involved a car and a public bus.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 58,000 crashes involved buses nationwide in 2009, 221 of which were fatal. Bus crashes in 2009 resulted in injuries to approximately 12,000 bus occupants and death to 26 bus occupants.

Due to the large size and capacity of buses, a bus crash can result in serious personal injuries for people involved in a bus accident. These injuries can include spinal cord injuries, head injuries, broken bones, neck and back injuries, and in some cases, wrongful death.

Continue reading "Bus Accident Results in Injury to Five from Crash" »

Several Florida bus accidents, ranging from school buses to church vans, have made national headlines in the past few months. In February, a tour bus accident in Lake Placid, Florida, killed two people and injured over 30. During the spring, a string of three Disney bus accidents - all within 2 weeks of each other - resulted in eight injuries and one death. More recently on July 17th, a Pompano Beach resident was killed and several passengers were injured when a church van crashed on the Florida Turnpike after the driver lost control of the vehicle. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 1,812 bus (a vehicle with over 15 passenger seats) accidents in Florida in 2009 -- 19 of which were fatal.

Driver Negligence a Common Cause of Bus Accidents
While many factors may contribute to a bus crash, including mechanical defects, one of the most common causes is driver negligence, whether it is the bus driver's negligence or another vehicle driver's. According to reports, the February Lake Placid tour bus accident occurred when an 81-year-old woman hit the bus after failing to yield, which caused the bus to overturn. The woman was cited in the accident but has not been charged. She was not injured in this accident, which resulted in two deaths and over 30 injuries.

The Disney bus accidents were all caused by different factors. In March, a Disney bus struck a charter bus that was parked in a through lane. The driver of the charter bus was not injured, but eight passengers in the Disney bus were injured. The FHP is investigating the possibility of mechanical problems with the Disney bus. In April, a 9-year-old boy from Florida was killed when his bicycle hit the side of a Disney bus, causing the bus to run him over, according to reports. The boy was riding his bike in the Fort Wilderness area of Disney World with a friend. They were both wearing helmets and riding on the sidewalk. It was unknown why the boy veered off the sidewalk until further investigation by the FHP found that an underinflated front tire and flat back tire on the boy's bike caused the accident. Another Disney bus accident that took place in April involved an 80-year-old driver who hit the back of an SUV that was stopped at a red light. The impact caused the SUV to rear-end a van. The bus driver was cited for careless driving.

Continue reading "More Than 1,800 Florida Bus Accidents in 2009" »

Florida residents are no strangers to bus accident injuries whether they occur on interstate motor coaches, school buses, or city buses.  Just yesterday, a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy collided with a school bus transporting children from West Glades Middle School in Parkland.  The deputy and two children were taken to the hospital for evaluation according to reports.  This accident and numerous other bus accidents throughout South Florida underscore the necessity for improved safety features and stronger regulation in the bus industry.

Glaringly absent from almost all buses are seat belts.  Although seat belts have been standard mandatory equipment in automobiles for years, they are still not required safety equipment in all buses.  Seat belts help prevent injury by performing two functions of crashworthiness: restraint of the occupants and prevention of ejection.  Despite their large size, bus collisions and rollovers transfer a great deal of energy to the passengers causing them to be ejected from the passenger compartment or slammed against interior surfaces.  The implementation of seat belts on buses would help prevent injuries by restraining the rider within their seat, but critics say such implementation would increase bus weight and not be cost-effective.

A less obvious danger, however, lies in the roofs above the riders' heads.  In order to increase passenger comfort, bus windows are being made larger and larger.  These large windows contribute to decreasing the integrity of the roof and the survival space.  When these large windows are not made of ejection-resistant glazed glass, the passenger compartment is compromised and passengers are more susceptible to being ejected through a larger area.

These short-comings can all be correct by readily available technology.  However, preventable bus accident injuries will continue to occur unless strict regulations are in place and enforced.  There is proposed legislation to help correct some of these shortcomings such as the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Acts of 2009 which seeks to improve passenger protections and increase driver training and credentialing.

Continue reading "Danger of Injury to South Florida Bus Riders" »