About 120 people, most children, die each year in crashes involving school transportation, and many more are injured in these crashes.
Our bus accident lawyers help families whose children are injured or killed by careless drivers. We have handled heartbreaking cases where little ones were killed when exiting the bus, and cases where the bus driver or the driver of another vehicle caused the wrongful death of a child.
Our law firm is joining the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in encouraging drivers and parents to take steps to keep our children safe.
School districts should take the following steps:
- assess the effectiveness of their school bus driver training programs;
- have strict safety protocols instituted; and
- take immediate action when there is a safety violation.
Because many of the injuries and deaths occur when a child is boarding or leaving the school bus, our lawyers urge school districts to emphasize the importance of vigilance and extreme caution at each stop.
When a little one is harmed, the family can sue the school for the child’s personal injury or wrongful death, but it should not take a lawsuit to drive home the message that child safety comes first.
“Over the last decade, nearly two thirds of school-age pedestrians who were fatally injured in school-transportation-related crashes were struck by school buses or other vehicles when getting on or off a school bus.”NHTSA
As a public service, our law firm is providing the following NHTSA-approved information that parents can share with their children:
- While waiting for the bus, stay at least 5 steps away from the curb;
- Do not move from this spot until the school bus driver tells you to board the bus;
- When exiting the bus, look to your left, to your right, and then to your left again before you step away from the bus;
- When you step away, take at least 5 steps away from the bus before you stop.
In colder climates where there can be ice on the road, tell your children to step carefully onto the road and step away with caution. In one of our cases, a young child slid under the bus and was run over. We obtained a large settlement for the family, but it did not bring their child back. If you are concerned about icy roads, you may want to discuss this with the driver when he or she picks up your child. It will not hurt to ask them to make sure they see your child standing away from the bus before they pull out.