The bus accident attorneys at Portner & Shure have handled numerous cases involving bus accident victims in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and Kentucky. To the surprise of some, these cases often involve passengers on large buses suffering serious injuries.
The reason for the bus-related injuries is actually quite simple. First, a bus, or what the industry calls a coach, is not required to have seat belts or crash-resistant roofs. Just last year, the lack of a standard feature led to injuries to 39 people when a bus was forced off an overpass on US 75 near Sherman, Texas.
Each year, public transportation serves more than 600 million passengers. However, Congress has not acted on recommendations to the National Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to improve industrial safety standards.
The fact that buses lack seat belts is truly astonishing. Bus rollover accidents are the leading cause of passenger fatalities. According to the NHTSA, seventy percent (70%) of bus crash deaths resulted from passengers being ejected from the bus.
In investigating these cases, the personal injury attorneys at Portner & Shure will examine the bus driver's medical history. Often, these drivers have been found to have medical conditions that impair their ability to drive safely.
School buses also present countless safety problems. As many as 2,000 school buses with potentially serious safety issues are transporting students, even though bus manufacturers and government safety regulators have known about some of the recalled parts for up to eight years.
For example, the seatbacks in some buses do not meet strength requirements, which could lead to more serious injuries in the event of an accident. Furthermore, seatbelt anchors are often not strong enough and detach from the floor or wall.
Some of the problems that have been associated with USA Buses in New York City have been ongoing since 2001. In fact, in 2007, USA Buses was repeatedly fined for selling buses with recalled parts, but never paid the fines.
In addition, the bus accident attorneys at Portner & Shure in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and Kentucky will review the safety record of the bus company involved in the accident. Extensive past examinations have revealed that some bus companies with a history of safety violations simply reinvent themselves by re-registering under a new name. In fact, the company that owned the bus involved in the Sherman, Texas, accident had been ordered out of service two months prior.
