By Joshua Perry
According to the Schoolbus Fleet, in the 2021-2022 school year, an estimated 489,748 yellow school buses provided transportation service daily in the United States. About 20.5 million elementary and secondary school children ride school buses to and from school each day.
Although bus transportation is relatively safe, injury sometimes occurs as a result of transportation to and from school. These injuries may occur as a result of the school bus driver’s operation of the bus or as a result of another motorist’s actions on the roadway.
Different Scenarios Where Injury May Occur
An injury may occur at any point in your child’s transport to school. This could include waiting at the bus stop, while attempting to board the bus, during transport to school, and while exiting the bus.
Injuries while boarding or exiting a bus may be related to a motor vehicle operator disobeying the stop signal or other signals on the school bus. Your child might also be injured by the bus driver’s operation of the school bus during the boarding and exiting process.
While riding on the school bus, an injury may occur as a result of the operation of the bus in an unsafe manner such as improperly applying the breaks, improperly navigating the roadway, or operating the bus at an excessive speed. An injury may also occur as a result of a motor vehicle collision involving the bus.
If your child is injured during their transport to school, be sure to obtain the school bus number, the name of the bus driver, any relevant information of other vehicles involved if there are other vehicles involved, and the location of the incident. There may be surveillance camera footage of the location where the injury occurred. It is also important to note whether the school bus had cameras on board and whether or not those cameras were functioning at the time of injury. Most school buses today are equipped with a camera or some type of recording device to monitor the activity while on board. This may be critical evidence in helping to determine how your child’s injury occurred.
If the incident involved first responders, it is important to know which department responded as there is likely to be a report of the incident completed by that department.
Finally, if your child is injured during their transport to or from school, give O’Donnell Law Offices a call and allow us to evaluate your claim. We can help you navigate through the various avenues of recovery for injuries as well as help you understand what your legal rights are in obtaining that recovery.
Source:
https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/road-users/school-bus/