Why it’s not just another bus accident
When a parent sends their child to school, it should be a safe and pleasant travel. But sometimes the negligence of another party can change all of that and put the most precious thing to a parent in a dangerous situation. The thought of even one school bus accident is too much. Looking at the actual statistics can leave a parent numb.
This is based on data collected from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and covers information from 2001 – 2010. Since 2001 there were 363,839 fatal motor vehicle accidents. Of those accidents, 1,236 were classified as school transportation related accidents. Those 1,236 accidents resulted in 1,368 fatalities. This is an average of 137 fatalities per year. The occupants of the school buses accounted for 7% of the fatalities, while non-occupants (bicyclists, pedestrians) accounted for 21 of the fatalities. The majority of people who were killed in a school bus related accident (72%) were occupants of other vehicles.
The NHTSA considers anyone under the age of 19 years old a school-aged pedestrian. Since 2001, there have been 123 school aged pedestrians who died in school transportation related accidents. The majority of them (69%) were struck by school buses. This often happens at the bus stop because the children are smaller than an adult and may not be seen by the bus driver or an oncoming vehicle. Another 5% were struck by smaller vehicles functioning as school buses and 26% were killed by other vehicles involved in the bus crash. One of the most tragic statistics is that 49 of these victims (40%) were only between the ages of 5 and 7 years old.
Statistics show that school bus accidents are one of the most common types or vehicle accidents. These bus accidents send over 17,000 students to hospitals with injuries every year. It seems that the time of day also plays a factor with more school-aged pedestrians being killed between 3PM and 4PM than any other time of day.
Even though you don’t have to have kids to understand the tragedy of a school bus accident, a good majority of our staff are parents and understand the emotional drain that this must put on a mother and/or father that just want their child to be ok. Because we are personal injury lawyers, we see the pain this can cause a family and we want you to know we are here for you.
The first thing you need to do is contact us for a free consultation and get your questions answered by our Ft. Lauderdale school bus accident lawyers. Let our family fight for yours.