Bus Accident Statistics
Buses are an essential part of public transportation in major cities and,
to a lesser extent, intercity and interstate transportation. Although
each state defines a "bus" differently, we defined a
bus" to be any vehicle capable of transporting 8 or more passengers, including
a driver. Given the number of buses on our streets and highways, the number
of accidents where a bus is involved is relatively small. However, when
a bus accident does happen, it usually results in several injuries involving
the bus's passenger.
On this page the
bus accident injury lawyer at the
Doan Law Firm reviews the most recent statistical data published by the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)and the National Highway Traffic
Administration (NHTSA) regarding accidents where a bus was involved. He
will then review the legal options that may be available to bus accident
victims and their families.
Bus Accident Overview
NOTE: Data related to bus accidents is not easily obtainable for a number of
reasons, primarily that the U.S. Department of Transportation and its
"Administrations," "Departments," and "Bureaus"
have overlapping jurisdictions. This means that some data could be duplicated
across several reports and thus the actual number of incidents could be
either lower or higher than those given here.
Data regarding bus accidents is primarily taken primarily from the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration's annual reports for the years
2015 and
2016.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration defines a "bus"
to be "… a rubber-tiredautomotive ("capable of moving under its own power") vehicle used for the
provision of public transportation service by or for a recipient"
and a "school bus" to be a bus used to "… used to
transport only school children and/or school personnel from home to school
and from school to home."
Commercial Bus Accidents
A "commercial" bus is any bus that transports passengers, who
pay a "fare," over a predefined route. Such busses include inter-city
carriers such as Trailways and Greyhound, intra-city public transportation
buses, "complimentary" buses that transport guests from airports
and train stations to hotels, and any number of private charter bus companies.
In 2015, the were 257 fatal bus accident injuries. Of these fatalities,
32 occurred on intercity buses; 190 fatalities occurred on intra-city
transit buses and school buses, and 35 deaths were recorded on "unscheduled" buses.
School Bus Accidents
The data presented in this section is taken from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration's
School-Transportation-Related Crashes: 2006 - 2015.
In the study mentioned in the previous paragraph, the NHTSA analyzed data
gathered over the 10-year period beginning on January 1, 2016 and ending
on December 31.2015. The study, published in August 2017, revealed that
during the study period:
-
1,313 people of
all ages were killed in school transportation-related accidents; an average of
131 fatalities per year. Included in this number were there were 301 school-age
children (23% of the all-ages total) killed in such accidents
- of the 301 school-age children killed during the study period, only 54
(18%) were occupants of dedicated school transportation vehicles ("buses").
Pedestrians and cyclists victims accounted for 110 (37%) deaths
- of the 110 pedestrians / cyclists, 64% died after being struck by a school
transportation vehicles or other vehicles serving in that capacity
-
of the 113 occupants killed
in school transportation vehicles, 49 were drivers and 64 were passengers<.i>
Discussion
As mentioned earlier, meaningful data on bus accidents is difficult to
obtain. However, this has no bearing on the rights of those injured in
a bus accident, or their families, to demand compensation for their injuries
and other losses.
When someone is a passenger on a bus of any type, the passenger assumes
that the bus's owner has maintained the bus in a manner that will
reduce the possibility that a mechanical failure will lead to an injury
to a passenger. The passenger also assumes that the bus driver is qualified
to operate that vehicle and will take no action that could jeopardize
his passengers. If a passenger is injured
and the cause of that injury is negligence on the part of the bus owner and/or
bus driver, the injured passenger will usually have the right to file
a personal injury lawsuit against the bus company.
When a personal injury lawsuit is filed, the
plaintiff (the person filing the lawsuit) is demanding that a court order the
defendant (the person being sued) to pay
damages that will compensate the victim for things such as current and anticipated
medical expenses, damaged property, lost income, "pain and suffering"
and, in some cases, "punitive" damages. The type, and amount,
of damages sought is a matter that must be decided by the accident victim,
the victim's family, and a bus accident injury lawyer.
Injured in a bus accident? You need a bus accident lawyer!
If you, or a family member, were injured in a bus accident you have the
right to be compensated for your injuries. Since it is unlikely that the
bus's operator will volunteer to take care of your injuries and other
losses, you will have to file a bus accident injury lawsuit.
When you file a bus accident injury lawsuit you will need a lawyer who:
- understands the federal, state, and local laws that apply to the operation
of commercial buses and school buses
-
knows how bus accidents
should be investigated, which is
not by simply reading police reports and newspaper articles
- has experience in handling cases where there are multiple defendants
- knows how to deal with large corporations, and their insurance carriers
- has access to expert witnesses who will testify on your behalf
-
is ready to fight for your right to receive
all the compensation you are entitled to receive
One bus accident lawyer who meets the above qualifications is the
bus accident lawyer at the Doan Law Firm, a nationwide law practice with offices located in major cities throughout
the country.
When you
contact the bus accident lawyer at the Doan Law firm, you first consultation with
our firm is always free of any charge and does not mean that you must
hire our firm as your legal counsel. If you later decide that our firm
should represent you in your bus accident case, we are willing to assume
full responsibility (including financial) for all aspects of preparing
your case for trial in exchange for a previously agreed-upon percentage
of the final settlement that we will win for you.