Fatal school bus crashes - Dallas Car Crash Accident Lawyer
Dallas, Texas (AmericanInjuryNews.com – News Report) –Excited children decked out in new clothes and colorful backpacks, close out the summer and gear up to meet their teachers and classmates. Many children in suburbs across America take the traditional route – the bright yellow school bus. As parents kiss their kids goodbye and the kids climb the bus’s steps, they part with a sense of comfort in that renewed routine. But could this be a false sense of security?
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 42,000 people are killed in traffic crashes on U.S. roads every year. Every year, approximately 450,000 public school buses travel about 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children to and from school and extra-curricular activities. In spite of these numbers, on average, every year, only six school age children (throughout the U.S.) die in school bus crashes as passengers. This year however, there has been an increase in the amount of school bus related crashes. In Kenosha County, Wisconsin, fourteen children were killed when their bus collided with a semi-truck. In Cottonwood, Minnesota, a school bus carrying 28 children, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade, collided with a van and flipped on its side. Five children died and many were badly injured.
Should this trend prompt our lawmakers to mandate that buses have seatbelts? It is interesting that only school buses manufactured after July of 2004 are required to be equipped with safety belts, but busses made long before that are still on our roads, carrying our children. Only the state of California currently requires lap/shoulder safety belts on all new school buses. Texas has legislation pending that will require lap/shoulder belts on all new buses beginning in 2010, but only if the funding is approved in 2009. So why is it taking other states so long to follow suit, or better yet, begin manufacturing busses equipped with seatbelts now. Hesitation comes partially from a 2002 study of school bus safety by the NHTSA. The study found that lap belts could increase the risk of serious neck and abdominal injuries. Shoulder belts, the study concluded, “could provide some benefit, unless misused.” Many young passengers, the study warned, were likely to wear shoulder belts incorrectly, slipping them behind their backs or under an arm. That, in turn, could increase the risk of injury in a crash.
School buses carry our most precious cargo – children- therefore school buses should be held to a level of safety that reflects that measure of caring. The NHTSA has instituted several safety standards and regulations to ensure that school buses are extremely safe. With the development of better bus equipment and technology, increased training for drivers and more citizen involvement, our children can be assured that they will greet their parents at the bus stop after a day at school and not at the emergency room.
If your children have been involved in a school bus or other auto related accident, your family is entitled to sufficient damages for the physical and mental pain inflicted by the accident. There is no one better to contact than the personal injury lawyers of Eberstein and Witherite. With over 40 years of combined experience, they are prepared to win you the recompense you deserve after a horrible wreck, especially when children are involved.
Do not hesitate, contact the Law Office of Eberstein & Witherite at:
3100 Monticello, Suite 500
Dallas, Texas 75205
Toll Free: (888) 407-6669
Fax: (214) 378-6670
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