It is 8 a.m. on a Monday morning. Your child is standing just off the edge of the sidewalk, back-pack and lunch box in tow, and waiving to her classmate who is running to catch up so they can get their favorite seat. In these mere moments before your child hops onto the bus, you might be thinking about a million things from the grocery list you need to grab before locking up or how bad the traffic on the highway will be this morning, but you probably haven’t given too much consideration to the yellow bus that is about to have a significant impact on the health of your child. Most people don’t give a second thought to sending their child on a school bus, because buses are supposed to be a safe form of transportation, even more so then a passenger vehicle.1 In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that students in the United States are almost eight times safer riding in a school bus than with parents or legal guardians in passenger vehicles.2 However, contrary to popular belief school buses are responsible for a variety of injuries that students sustain throughout the year.
Benefits and Problems with School Buses
There are design features of school buses that make them less susceptible to being in an accident or causing serious injury. For instance, a school bus has a large frame which surpasses crush standards in the event of a rollover, equipped with red flashing lights, trained drivers, reinforced sides, bright coloring, and stop sign arms.3 However, even though school buses are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles, just like any form of transportation, they carry a risk of being involved in a collision or accident. There are three typical forms of school bus related accidents: collision with other motorists, pedestrian accidents (including accidents involving a child-crossing), or occupant injuries. Common forms of injuries sustained while on the bus can include falls from sudden braking, impact with a frontward seat due to defective seat belts or absence of any form of restraint device, injured hands or arms from defective doors and windows, assaults from other students due to a lapse in the security on the bus, or tripping accidents prompted by uneven flooring, worn stairs, or missing hand rails.
Contact an Experienced St. Louis Personal Injury Attorney for a Free Consultation
If your child has been injured during a school bus accident, it is important to discuss the circumstances of your child’s injury with an experienced personal injury attorney who can help to protect your legal rights and interests to compensation from potentially liable parties including the driver, school bus company, or the school. To contact a personal injury attorney for a free consultation please feel free to call the The Bruning Law Firm trial attorneys at 314-735-8100.
Resources:
