WESTCHESTER, NY’S #1 BUS ACCIDENT ATTORNEY IS NORMAN GERSHON

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), thousands of accidents involving buses and other large commercial vehicles are reported every year. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) estimates that around 13% of fatal bus crashes involve intercity buses, 40% involve school buses, and 35% of all fatal bus crashes involve transit buses. There are well over 20,000 people suffering injuries from bus accidents every year. With bus companies placing profit above passenger safety, many large bus crashes and bus rollovers are caused by negligence on the part of the bus driver or company. Examples of these include:

Driver Fatigue
Bus drivers, like truckers, tend to drive long distances without much time for a break or rest. If a bus driver is tired or drowsy, it can lead to reckless behavior and tragic loss. Driving while tired impairs their reaction time, making it difficult to properly maintain their lanes or avoiding contact with other vehicles.

Distracted Driving
The NHTSA says that taking your eyes off the road for even 5 seconds while traveling at speeds over 55 mph is the equivalent of driving across an entire football field without looking. You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Text messaging, looking at a cellphone, or simply not paying attention can have tragic results for passengers and other motorists.

Aggressive Driving
Bus drivers have fixed schedules to keep. It can be easy for drivers to fall behind schedule when problems arise with traffic, passengers, or equipment failures. Bus drivers can be careless and aggressive when trying to make up for the lost time. This carelessness puts the bus passengers’ and everyone else’s lives on the road at risk.

Bus Driver Error
Errors can occur, especially with inexperienced or poorly trained bus drivers. Poor training and lack of experience can quickly become a significant issue for all involved. Even something simple such as getting too close to the sidewalk when picking up passengers, can result in injury. Driver errors could include: making wide turns, following too closely, not paying attention to their blind-spots, aggressive driving, speeding, and more.

Intoxicated Driving
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol impairs a bus driver’s ability to control the bus and react to dangerous driving situations. This is especially true when other drivers make sudden stops or turns. Bus drivers must obtain a commercial drivers’ license (CDL), which means their legal blood alcohol limit is half of that for other drivers, and they are also required to submit to random drug and alcohol screenings. Bus drivers who drive intoxicated put other motorists, passengers, and pedestrians at risk of injury and death.

A bus accident might have several parties responsible for your injuries. Hiring an experienced attorney is your best bet in ensuring each responsible party is held accountable.

The bus driver is usually the first party assigned blame for the accident. If the driver acted recklessly, carelessly, or lost control of the vehicle at the time of the accident, they are the go-to defendant for your bus accident. The bus company will also be liable. A driver lacking the requisite experience or one that did not receive proper training would be further grounds to hold the bus company liable. These companies must ensure each driver is fit for duty, including conducting background checks, drug screening, testing, proper training, etc. If the accident resulted from a problem with the vehicle itself (i.e., a product defect), the bus manufacturer might also be held responsible.

Proving liability can be a difficult task. Bus and insurance companies will continuously try to deny and shift responsibility. Contact a Westchester bus accident attorney to fight for you. Don’t let a company keep you from the justice and compensation you deserve.

An experienced Westchester bus accident lawyer can help take the legal hassle off your plate. We will work diligently on getting you a fair personal injury verdict or insurance settlement for all of your bus accident injuries, including:

• Traumatic brain injury
• Broken bones
• Spinal cord injuries
• Whiplash
• Internal Bleeding
• Organ damage