Bus Accident Lawyer

The National Transportation Safety Board has pushed for a number of crucial changes to improve bus safety for passengers across the country after a number of fatal bus crashes that may have been preventable.

On an early summer morning in June, 1998, a tour bus travelling from New York to Pittsburgh struck into the back of a stationary tractor trailer on a roadway in Pennsylvania. The tractor trailer was pushed into the road where it hit into the side of another truck, parked further along the road. The driver of the first bus, as well as six passengers, were killed, with 18 other individuals injured.

In the investigation following this incident, the National Transportation Safety Board identified three factors that contributed to the accident – bus driver fatigue due to overworking, poor bus maintenance and failure of the bus operators to comply with federal safety regulations.

13 years after this accident, another bus heading towards New York City crashed on a highway in Virginia, killing four passengers and injuring dozens of others. In 2011, 15 people were killed and 18 others injured in a bus accident in Bronx, while just two days later two further bus accidents in New Jersey and New Hampshire killed two and 25 people respectively.

In all of these tragic incidents, the NTSB has found similar findings of driver fatigue and inadequate bus operators as contributing factors. These dangerous bus operators are often only investigated and forced to close their operations after a fatal accident such as those mentioned above. If steps were taken earlier to improve bus safety, thousands of lives could be saved on US roads each year.

The National Transportation Safety Board has urged for a number of key recommendations that can be instituted to greatly decrease the risk of fatal bus accidents. Firstly, the board recommends better federal regulation of bus operators, to ensure that buses are adequately maintained and that drivers are thoroughly screened before carrying passengers. Secondly, the board recommends that the safety of buses be improved through increasing the strength of window glazing, providing better roof strength, and improving the visibility of emergency exits on all passenger buses.

In addition, there are a number of advanced vehicle technologies that could be incorporated into passenger buses to improve their safety for passengers. Technologies include lane departure warning signals, forward collision warnings and electronic stability control, that should be provided to all commercial passenger vehicles.

At least 19 people, many of them women and children, have been killed after a bus carrying guests to a wedding in the northwest region of Pakistan veered off the road into a canal near Peshawar on Friday.

The accident occurred on the Charsadda road on Friday afternoon, when the bus driver, who was driving recklessly on the road according to eye witnesses and passengers on the bus, lost control and drove the bus off the road and into a Budani canal. The bus driver, who did not sustain serious injuries, fled from the scene of the accident before police officials arrived.

According to police authorities, 19 people were killed in the accident, including women and children, with a further eight passengers sustaining injuries. Six of those who were killed belonged to the same family, all on their way to a wedding in Mardan. The bus was en route from Samar Bagh to the wedding venue in Mardan when the accident happened, with 35 passengers on board.

Rescue workers only arrived on the accident scene more than an hour after the crash had occurred. Rescue personnel worked for hours to recover the 19 bodies from the wreckage of the bus and from the canal, while freeing the eight injured passengers. The injured were transported from the scene to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital by ambulance for treatment. Several of the passengers sustained life-threatening injuries and remain in a critical condition in hospital.

The family names of some of the injured have been released to the media as Pulwey, Sherena, Gurey, Khalida, Usman, Kainat, Sher afzal, Kamran and Mahanoor. A number of the deceased have not yet been identified, and police urge any individuals who are missing family members or may have some knowledge of the people on board the bus to come forward.

CCTV camera footage shows that the accident was the direct result of the negligence of the bus driver. The canal was swollen with flood water and was starting to cover the surface of the bridge when the driver approached. The driver however did not slow down when reaching the bridge, and lost control as he hit the water. The bus was swept off the bridge into the canal.

The Pakistani government has extended their condolences to all those who were affected by the accident, praying for the peace of the deceased and their families, and for the rapid recovery of those who were injured.

A middle school student who was injured in Monday’s Hamilton school bus crash has undergone surgery on her arm today, said school officials in a statement to the media.

The girl, whose name has not been revealed by the officials, was one of seven students of St. Gregory the Great Academy who were injured when their school bus crashed into a ditch on Monday. The accident occurred at approximately 3 pm on Monday afternoon on Merrick Road, while the bus driver was transporting pupils home from school.

According to officials, it appears that the bus driver swerved in order to avoid hitting a deer that had suddenly run into the road, and veered into the ditch. The bus tipped over onto its side, and seven students and the 69 year old bus driver, Jeanette Guerra, sustained minor injuries.

St Gregory the Great Academy principal, Jason Briggs, said that the girl will have an MRI scan following her surgery today. Briggs further said that he has been in contact with the girl’s family, and that the injuries sustained in the accident were not life threatening. She is expected to make a full recovery following her surgery.

The girl was transported from the accident scene, along with the other injured pupils, to local hospitals by ambulance. Last night, a hospital spokesperson said she was transferred from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, where she was being treated, to Brunswick Children’s Hospital where she underwent her surgery.

The local police authorities say that Guerra was driving on the southbound lane of Merrick Road when a deer suddenly appeared on the right side of the road. Guerra swerved to avoid the deer, causing the bus to drive off the left side of the road into a deep ditch. There were 14 students on board the bus at the time.

Principal Briggs said that members of the school community gathered together on the morning of the accident to pray for the injured passengers and to give thanks that no pupils sustained serious injuries in the incident. Briggs visited the scene of the accident on Monday, and assisted in transporting some of the uninjured pupils back to their homes. He has also been to visit the injured pupils in hospital, where they remain in a stable condition.

No charges are expected to be filed against the bus driver, said local police.

The driver of the Greyhound long distance bus that crashed in north western Pennsylvania on Thursday, injuring 12 people, has been held responsible for the accident, according to state police officials.

The accident occurred at approximately 7am on Thursday morning, two hours after the bus had left Cleveland en route to New York. The bus was carrying a Catholic church group to an event in New York City. According to a spokesperson for Greyhound bus company, there were 26 people on board the bus at the time of the incident, and the bus had made one stop to pick up passengers before the accident occurred.

According to reports from eye witnesses and passengers, the bus was travelling at around 65 miles per hour when it drove into the back of a flatbed truck, driving at around 50 miles per hour in the east bound lane of the I-90, in the McKean Township region. The bus veered off the interstate after the collision before coming to rest in a ditch on the side of the highway. The flatbed truck continued driving for a short time before pulling onto the verge of the interstate. The driver was the only occupant in the flatbed truck, and was not injured in the incident.

12 people in the bus, including the bus driver, sustained injuries in the collision. Local news sources report that the driver, who has been identified as 48 year old Mark Harris, has been cited for the incident and is expected to be charged with reckless driving. Harris is a resident of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Although Greyhound has been contacted about the incident, they have not released information on Harris’s employment status or safety record with the company.

The front of the bus was seriously mangled in the accident, causing the driver to be trapped in the wreckage. It took fire fighters and rescue personnel who responded to the scene more than 90 minutes to free the driver. The other passengers were able to be easily removed from the wreckage and were transported to local hospitals, were they were treated for minor injuries. All but one of the passengers have since been released from the hospital and are said to be doing well. The extent of the injuries of the passenger who remains in hospital is not known.

Greyhound has released a statement saying that they will cooperate fully with the police investigation into the incident.

Two of the survivors of a fatal bus crash on the Interstate 84 in Oregon last month have announced plans to file a lawsuit against the operators of the tour bus and the bus driver.

The lawsuit claims that the bus driver was over worked and fatigued, having worked 90 to 100 hours over the eight days prior to the accident, with no rest. In addition, the lawsuit accuses the driver of driving recklessly considering the slippery road conditions and poor visibility.

According to the passengers who are filing the lawsuit, two Korean exchange students, the driver was speeding in the dangerous icy conditions, and failed to heed a number of warnings about the treacherous weather conditions in the area.

The accident occurred in December 2012, while the tour bus was carrying passengers back to Vancouver, British Columbia following a nine day bus tour of the western United States. The bus slid on icy roads, causing the driver to lose control and smash into an embankment on the I-84 close to Pendleton.

The operators of the bus, Mi Joo Tours, responded to the lawsuit by releasing a media statement on Monday. The statement said that Mi Joo Tours was cooperating fully with the accident investigation and with lawsuit proceedings, and again extended sympathy and condolences to the family members of those who were killed in the accident.

According to Oregon State Police Lieutenant Gregg Hastings, who is working on the investigation, the passengers on the bus at the time of the accident ranged from 7 to 74 years old and included citizens of the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea. An 11 year old girl from South Korea was one of those who was killed.

Police only released the identities of the deceased last week, saying that identification of the victims was difficult as many of the dead were not US citizens and family members had to travel to identify the bodies. The names of the passengers involved in the accident have now been posted on the Oregon State Police website.

The investigators who are working on the accident report that will be used in the lawsuit have said that it may take several weeks for the results of their investigation to be completed. It is critical that the accounts of other passengers and the driver, who survived the accident, are taken into account before this case reaches the courts, said Hastings.

A pharmacy professor from Ferris State University in Michigan has died in hospital after being seriously injured in a bus accident in her native country of Cameroon in December.

The university has released a press statement saying that they are ‘deeply saddened’ by the death of professor Lucy Ngoh, who was involved in a bus accident on December 30^th while visiting family members in Cameroon.

The dean of the college of pharmacy at Ferris State, Stephen Durst, said that Ngoh was a uniquely insightful and intelligent woman who played a major in the department and the field of academic pharmacy as a whole. ‘Lucy’s influence in the college and academic pharmacy will never be replaced. This is a significant loss in our lives’, Durst said.

Ngoh had been working at Ferris State’s College of Pharmacy since 1992, with special interests in service learning, international health and health literacy. Prior to becoming an academic, Ngoh worked as a registered pharmacist and was also a specialist in health care education. She was a member of numerous professional and academic organizations and played an active role in the field of academic pharmacy and research.

Ngoh’s roles at the university included those of lecturer, mentor, researcher and a member of the Academic Senate. She also served on the board of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory group and worked as a facilitator at the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at the University. The Ferris State University flag was flown at half mast following Ngoh’s death.

The university described Ngoh as an individual who was active within both the university and the wider community as a whole, holding positions in a number of personal and professional organizations, such as the Big Rapids branch of the American Association of University Women. Ngoh was very active in the Ferris State University campus parish, as well as giving her time and skills to assist the Mecosta-Osceola chapter of the American Red Cross.

The details of the bus accident in which she was involved have not yet been released, however Cameroon authorities say that they are investigating the incident, which occurred on the 30^th December. The West African country, like many other countries in the region, has notoriously bad roads and a high annual death rate from road traffic accidents. Bus accidents are particularly deadly, as buses are often overloaded and poorly maintained due to poorly enforced traffic regulations.

12 policemen have been injured after a government bus carrying members of Turkey’s riot police force was involved in an accident on Friday in Turkey’s capital, Istanbul.

The accident appears to have been caused by foggy weather, said local media sources. Heavy fog in the Istanbul area has led to dangerous driving conditions since Thursday. The police bus rolled over on the TEM motorway in the Maslak neighbourhood of Istanbul on Friday morning, when the bus was approaching the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. According to eye witness reports, it appears that the bus driver was not able to see the guard rail on the side of the road, and the bus hit into the rail and tipped over.  12 riot police officers were injured, two of them seriously.

Rescue services arrived rapidly on the scene and worked to rescue the trapped passengers from inside the wreckage of the bus. Those who were injured were transported by ambulance and by some of their co workers to local hospitals, where they are recovering from their injuries. Hospital spokespeople have not yet released a report on the condition of the patients.

Two lanes of traffic on the highway heading in the Ankara direction were closed after the accident, while the wreckage was cleared and the accident scene was investigated. The road closure, which lasted almost two hours, caused significant delays on the highway, adding to the traffic pile up that has been caused by the bad weather in the city.

Istanbul’s heavy fog has caused a number of serious accidents since it settled on the city on Thursday. Most recently, a pile up involving multiple cars occurred on the Basin Ekspres on the Ikitelli Basaksehir route, causing significant delays after one lane of traffic was closed. Fortunately no one was seriously injured in the pile up.

Although the fog has been indicated as the most likely cause of the accident, an investigation will be conducted into the bus driver’s conduct on the drive.

A number of public transport methods have also been influenced by the fog. The local ferry service, Istanbul City Lines, was forced to cancel certain routes on Friday morning due to the bad weather conditions and poor visibility. In addition, a number of flights were delayed after the fog made it difficult for planes to take off from Istanbul International Airport. Weather experts say they cannot be certain when the fog will clear or what caused the unusually heavy fog.

Nine people have been killed and more than 20 others injured after a tour bus smashed through a guard rail and rolled down a steep embankment in Oregon on Sunday, said authorities.

The accident occurred at around 10.30am on Sunday morning, on slippery roads in icy and snowy conditions. The driver of the tour bus, which was transporting approximately 40 people at the time, lost control on the ice-covered Interstate 84 in a rural part of eastern Oregon, according to Oregon police officials.

The accident occurred on a steep, winding downhill section of the road, when the driver crashed through the guardrail, rolling down a steep hill and landing on its wheels at the bottom of a snow covered slope.

More than 20 rescue workers arrived on the scene after receiving calls from other motorists on the highway. The rescue workers used ropes to traverse the snowy hill and to rescue survivors from the wreckage in the frigid weather conditions. The bus driver survived the accident, but sustained major injuries. The driver is expected to be questioned by police about the circumstances surrounding the accident once he has recovered from his injuries.

According to Lietenant Gregg Hastins, the bus crashed in a dangerous area of the state on the end of the Blue Mountains. That section of road is known to be particularly treacherous, and the state transport department had recently issued warnings to drivers of large vessels such as trucks and buses to be particularly careful due to the unpredictable weather conditions on the road.

26 passengers were transported by ambulance to St Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, where they are being treated for a range of injuries. Five of the injured were later transported from St Anthony to other local hospitals.

Survivors of the accident described the accident scene to the East Oregonian newspaper, saying that the bus swerved a number of times on the icy road before hitting into the guardrail and flipping over. The survivors described a terrifying scene of broken glass and dead and injured passengers pinned underneath their seats and inside the wreckage.

According to the Umatilla County Emergency Manager, Jack Remillard, the bus was operated by Mi Joo travel company based in Vancouver, Canada. The bus was travelling from Las Vegas back to Vancouver while on a tour of the Western US.

This bus is the second fatal accident on this section of road this week, after a 69 year old man died when his car overturned 30 miles from the site of the bus accident.

15 people have been killed and scores of others injured after their bus was involved in an accident in western Nepal on Friday, said local authorities.

Officials speaking to the media on Saturday said that the passenger bus was travelling along a mountainous road when the driver lost control, veering off the road and plunging down a hill into a river. The accident occurred at around 8am on Friday morning.

The bus was traversing a winding mountain pass near Dasharathpur, a village in the Surkhet district of western Nepal, about 400 kilometres west of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. According to the bus company, the bus was en route to the city of Birendranagar from the village of Gumi when the accident happened.

The passenger bus was carrying approximately 50 people at the time of the crash. It is not yet clear what the cause of the accident was, but eye witnesses and survivors describe how the bus suddenly veered off the road, rolling about 50 metres down a steep hill before coming to a rest on its wheels in the Gamkhola River, which ran alongside the road. News agencies released horrific photographs of the accident scene, showing the mangled wreckage of the bus.

Although there has been no official investigation launched into the cause of the accident yet, police speculate that a truck may have been coming in the opposite direction, forcing the bus driver to swerve off the road. District police authorities who are working on the case were not authorized to release further information to the media at this stage. However, a report as to the likely cause of the accident will be released following investigation proceedings.

13 people died at the scene of the accident, with approximately 30 passengers injured. Two further passengers died of their injuries in hospital later on Friday evening. The names of the deceased passengers have not yet been released, but most of the fatalities have been identified. According to officials, three members of the military were among the fatalities, with most of the remaining victims being locals of the Surkhet district.

Accidents are common in Nepal’s dangerous mountain highways, and high fatality accidents such as this one are often caused by reckless driving and poor maintenance of vehicles and roads. Hundreds of people die in the country each year. This accident is the worst Nepal has seen since last September, when 29 people were killed after a bus fell off a cliff in western Nepal.

13 people have been killed and a further 37 injured after a passenger bus plunged off the road and into a deep ravine in a rural area of central Ecuador on Wednesday, said authorities.

Lira Villalba, the governer of the Tungurahua province in central Ecuador where the accident occurred, told media at a press conference that the accident occurred on a mountainous stretch of road between the capital of the province, Ambato, and the remote town of Pillaro. Although only preliminary investigations into the accident has been performed, initial findings indicate that brake failure is the most likely cause of the tragic crash, one of the most fatal bus crashes in Ecuador in recent history.

A local newspaper in Ecuador reported that the bus driver appeared to lose control of the vehicles after his brakes failed, causing the bus to steer off the road, tip over and roll down a 200m deep ravine. There were at least 50 people on the bus at the time. The names of those who died have not yet been released to the media, as next of kin are still being contacted to identify the bodies.

According to local authorities, the accident occurred at approximately 9.30am in the La Joaquina sector of Tungurahua province. More than 20 ambulances were dispatched to the scene after an anonymous emergency call was made to ambulance services. The injured have been transported to a number of hospitals in Ambato and Pillaro, with the most seriously injured being airlifted to the Ambato regional hospital.

Some survivors were interviewed in hospital by Shanghai Daily newspaper, and decribed scenes of terror and panic after the accident. ‘Afterwards, all was confusing. Three people died aside me,’ said a shell shocked survivor from her hospital bed.

Road traffic accidents contribute significantly to deaths in Ecuador, being the second leading cause of death in the country, according to government statistics. The Latin American country has a annual mortality rate due to road traffic accidents of 33 per 100 000 people in the population, the highest mortality rate of any Latin American country and one of the highest outside of Africa.

According to road safety watchdog Justicia Vial, which monitors road traffic accidents and resultant fatalities and injuries, 4800 people have been killed in transport accidents in Ecuador each year. This converts to an average death toll of 13 people a day on Ecuador’s roads.