Articles Posted in Bus Accidents

Fourteen people were killed and 40 suffered severe injuries after a charter bus taking worshippers from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church of Houston to a religious festival in Carthage, Missouri, blew a tire and crashed on Highway 75 north of Dallas. According to an Associated Press news report, the bus’ right front tire blew after which it skidded across a guard rail before sliding off the highway on the other side of a bridge over a creek, landing on its side. Texas state troopers say this is one of the worst fatal bus accidents in their state’s history.

According to police and fire officials, 12 people died on the scene and two died in hospitals. At least six people are said to be hospitalized in critical condition. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials are still investigating the cause of the bus accident. It could take up to 18 months for their investigation to be completed. This bus accident reportedly occurred less than a mile from the spot where a truck driver crossed the median and killed 10 people about five years ago in another fatal truck accident.

I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. I wish survivors a speedy recovery from their injuries. Please keep the victims and their families in your prayers.

I’d be very interested to know all the contributing causes to this accident and the resulting injuries. Preliminary reports say that the bus’ tire blew and it then veered out of control and crashed. I would want to know if the tire that blew was a defective auto product or if the tread separated. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), there were 299 fatal bus crashes and more than 12,000 injury crashes involving buses in the United States in 2006. Bus crashes commonly occur because of driver error, mechanical defects, poor vehicle maintenance, a defective auto product or a dangerous road condition.
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A school bus carrying nine students heading home from a summer school program at Sonoma State University overturned on Highway 101 near Asti, skidding on its side for 200 feet before coming to rest in the middle of the freeway, according to an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Some of the students and the driver suffered injuries during the California bus accident.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Ramos said that everyone in the bus was able to get out through the front windshield, which had popped out. . Some students suffered cuts and bruises while the driver complained of pain. One student was treated for a dislocated shoulder and another was treated for head injuries at a local hospital. Thankfully none of the students were seriously injured. This accident could have been catastrophic.

The bus, which was operated by First Student, a national school bus company, crashed when the driver drifted off the side of the freeway, officials said. Bus company officials said the driver was a veteran employee and was one of their best drivers. Doesn’t sound like it however.

From the news accounts it appears that the carrier company will be held fully responsible for this bus accident. Buses are considered “common carriers” and that includes school buses, city buses and charter buses. Common carriers have an “utmost duty of care” to their passengers, which is a much higher duty than that of your friend who is driving you to school.
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Faith Creer, 31 of Los Angeles died in a recent charter bus accident reported by The Los Angeles Times. The bus was in the left lane headed eastbound on Interstate 40 when it drifted onto the dirt median. The bus then crashed as the driver tried to correct its direction and fell on its side. Creer died when she was thrown out by the impact of the bus crash that also injured 21 others, eight of them seriously.

I’m deeply saddened by the loss of life and the scale of injuries caused by this bus wreck. It is always scary to imagine that as a passenger in a vehicle you can have your whole life suddenly upturned or even destroyed. And it is interesting to note here that CHP Officer Taj Johnson is quoted as saying they don’t know why the driver of the bus drifted across the lanes and also that the driver himself didn’t know how it drifted.
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A woman in her 30s was reportedly hit and killed by a charter bus when she was crossing the street Tuesday morning in the Westlake area of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports. The article states that the woman, who has not yet been identified, entered a crosswalk at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, when she was hit by the bus.

Witnesses describe the charter bus as a yellow bus that looks very much like a school bus. The driver of the bus was reportedly trying to turn on New Hampshire from Wilshire. No one else was injured as a result of the bus accident and police are still looking into what caused the fatal accident, the Times reports. Officials have not yet released the name of the bus driver or the bus company either. No one has been arrested or cited yet.
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Four children reportedly died and at least 14 others suffered severe to moderate injuries in a tragic school bus accident in southwestern Minnesota. According to an Associated Press article posted on the local Fox News’ Web site, the bus was initially hit by a van. Then the bus hit a pickup truck and tipped onto its side. While rescue squads and ambulances arrived, the first motorists on scene were asked to take children to the hospital, the Marshall Independent, a local newspaper reported.

The bus was carrying children from kindergarten through 12th grade. Among the victims transported to two different area hospitals, two were in critical condition and others were reportedly being treated for back and neck injuries, cuts, bumps and bruises. Two victims ages 11 and 14 had complex fractures, which required special treatment at a hospital farther away from the crash site, the report said.

This is no doubt a tough week for the people of Cottonwood, Minn. who must deal with the grief and shock of four young lives lost. Families of the severely injured will have it tough as their children gradually recover from the physical and mental trauma of a horrific bus accident that took the lives of people they knew or were friends with.
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A Massachusetts jury has awarded $10 million to a 58-year-old woman who suffered severe brain damage after she was hit by a public transit bus while waiting to get to work, the Boston Globe reports. After the bus crash, Louise Scialdone is reportedly not able to work and has serious problems related to her brain injury such as balance, memory, sensitivity to light and the mental capacity of a third grader.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority must now pay Scialdone about $12.8 million from the date her suit was filed, factoring in interest. Jurors announced their verdict after only four hours of deliberations, the article said.

The accident reportedly occurred Feb. 4, 2004 when Scialdone, who used a walker because of her arthritis, was waiting at a bus stop. The bus driver lost control of the vehicle, fishtailed onto the sidewalk and knocked the woman off her feet. Scialdone was then thrown 5 feet and her head slammed into a parked car, the article said. She lost consciousness and was in and out of the hospital for weeks after the accident.
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A 25-year-old woman, who reportedly was possibly talking on her cell phone and not wearing a seatbelt, was killed when a public bus carrying school students crashed into the sedan she was driving, also injuring six students on the bus, according to a news report in the Los Angeles Daily News.

The Santa Clarita Transit Bus was carrying 15 passengers including junior high and high school students, officials told the newspaper. The bus driver and one student had to be transported to a local hospital, according to another Associated Press news report. Four other children were reportedly treated at the scene for minor injuries. The children on the bus were students from West Ranch High School and Rancho Pico Jr. High School, the Daily News reported.

The woman driver, whose name has not yet been released, was driving a Toyota Camry.
According to California Highway Patrol officials, the bus was headed south on The Old Road and the Camry was traveling east on Constitution near the Santa Clarita marketplace when the bus crash occurred. The driver’s side of the Camry was completely smashed in and the front of the bus reportedly rested on a concrete median.
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A charter bus carrying at least 50 people from a Colorado ski resort skidded off a rain slicked road in South Utah and rolled over several times down an embankment killing nine people and injuring at least 23. According to an Associated Press news report, the Arrow Stage Lines bus was traveling southbound on State Route 163 when it plummeted 41 free down an embankment after failing to negotiate a curve.

Many of the travelers suffered critical injuries while nine were killed in the crash. According to reports, the roof of the bus split open and many of the occupants were thrown out of the vehicle. Several investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are out on scene investigating the tragic, horrific crash. The driver reportedly escaped with minor injuries.

The Associated Press also reported information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Web site, which shows that Arrow Stage has had seven bus crashes in the last two years, four of which involved injuries. This accident occurred 10 miles north of the area known as the Mexican Hat, in the Four Corners region where Utah meets Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Emergency crews from all four states responded. The nearest hospital was about 80 miles away.
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A Kentucky man, who suffered severe brain injuries when he was struck by a bus, will get about $ 7 million in an out-of-court settlement that was finalized this week. According to a UPI news report, Kevin Hable, himself a successful attorney, was forced to quit his job and his career because of brain damage and debilitating injuries.

Hable’s attorneys say they found out that the bus company, was negligent in hiring driver Terra Walter, a woman convicted of possessing cocaine and a crack pipe, according to an article in the Courier-Journal. She had also failed two drug treatment programs and had been ordered by a court to a third rehab program.

But the TARC bus company put her behind the wheel of a city bus and continued to keep her in spite of the fact that she tested positive for cocaine the next year. What was the result of that decision? It changed Hable’s life in an instant. According to the newspaper, the man was managing partner of law firm Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, making more than $400,000 a year, a 52-year-old outdoorsman who ran 5 miles a day and top aide to two Kentucky governors. Now he cannot even walk his dogs.
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A Los Angeles jury recently decided that the County Metropolitan Transportation Authority should pay $13.8 million to a 58-year-old man who was partially paralyzed in a crash with a parked big-rig, according to an Associated Press news report posted on the San Diego Union Tribune’s Web site.

Joseph L. Garcia was in a bus that was traveling west on Santa Monica Boulevard on June 25, 2005 when the bus hit the big-rig. All six passengers who were on board were hurt, but Garcia suffered the most serious injuries including permanent brain damage and paralysis on the left side of his body.

The jury deliberated a day before returning a verdict on June 11. Interestingly enough, Garcia’s attorney had asked the jury for a $40-million award. MTA officials said they accept the jury’s verdict. They even tell the Associated Press that it was an “unfortunate situation” and that they tried to settle the case and had told the plaintiff’s attorney all along that they would cover his medical expenses. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, MTA had offered $5 million to settle the case before the trial began.
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