Number of School Bus Accidents Small, but Incidents Widely Publicized

 Posted on December 00, 0000 in School Bus Accidents

It can be a terrifying moment to put your child on the school bus for the first time, knowing that he or she is no longer directly in your care. However, according to the American School Bus Council and as reported in a publication of the governmental Traffic Safety Marketing organization, school buses are designed to be much safer than pedestrian vehicles.

This may come as a surprise to many, given that school buses tend to lack basic precautions required by law in other vehicles, such as seat belts. Yet the American School Bus Council reports that school busses today are built tougher than regular cars to withstand impact, and drivers are specially trained for the job.

A Traffic Safety Facts publication from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicated that only 130 school-age kids have died in school transportation accidents since 2000. In accidents involving school buses, the vast majority of fatalities (72 percent) involve the occupants of the other car, presumably because school buses are built to withstand such impact. The majority of these occurred after school, not in the morning. There were only 20 crashes between either a single vehicle or multiple vehicles and a school bus being used to transport kids between the year 2000 and 2009.

Job training for school bus drivers includes student behavior management courses, security procedure training, and emergency medical procedure training. Additionally, school bus drivers are subject to frequent and random drug and alcohol testing.

Despite this, accidents involving school buses continue to plague the U.S. These types of accidents are often widely publicized, given their sensitive nature, and tend to result in multiple child injuries. Oftentimes the driver is charged severely for his or her role in the accident, especially if drugs or alcohol were involved.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a school bus accident and believe that the driver or school system is at fault, you could be eligible for compensation. The most important step if you have been injured in such an incident in Illinois is to seek the counsel of an accident attorney. Contact Salvi & Maher, LLP today.