Bus Accident Lawyer

Three adults have been injured after a school bus collided with a car and careened into a shop-front in Brooklyn on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred at about 6.10am in the Flatbush district of Brooklyn, at the intersection between East 21^st Street and Church Avenue, according to local authorities.

According to the initial reports of the accident, a school bus was driving through the intersection when a white four door Toyota ran a red traffic light and hit into the back of the bus. Both the car and the bus veered out of control after the accident, with the bus mounting the curb and smashing into a storefront, while the car crashed into the side of a car parked on the edge of the road.

Three adults, including both drivers and another passenger on the bus, were injured in the incident. There were no school children on the bus at the time,  as the bus was still on its way to collect children from their homes. All three of the injured individuals were taken to Kings County Hospital and Maimonides Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries. Two of the injured have already been discharged, while the other remains in a stable condition.

The identities of the victims of the accident have not yet been released.

A spokesperson from Fisherman’s Cove restaurant, the storefront into which the bus crashed, has said that the buildings department will be called in to assess the amount of damage caused to the store and the structural integrity of the building. It remains to be seen who will be liable to pay for the damages incurred to the restaurant and to the vehicles involved in the accident. The bus also knocked down a five foot tall green metal fence in the collision.

Although eye witness reports suggest that the driver of the Toyota was at fault in the accident, local police authorities will be conducting a thorough investigation into the incident and will release an official accident report. It remains to be seen whether the owner of the school bus, the other vehicle damaged in the accident or the proprietors of Fisherman’s Cove restaurant will be pressing charges against the driver of the Toyota.

If you or someone you know has been involved in an accident such as this one, there is help available. Contact a specialist bus accident lawyer today and they can assess whether you have a case, and help you with legal proceedings.

The driver of a car that was involved in an accident with two school buses in Horry County on Tuesday morning has been charged with reckless driving in dangerous weather conditions and driving without valid driver’s license.

According to Sonny Collins, spokesperson for the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the two school buses were stationary in heavy traffic on Highway 707, when a car pulled out from the adjacent Big Block road and side swiped both buses. The school buses were both on their way to drop children off at school.

The driver of the car that caused the accident, an as yet unidentified female, appeared to lose control of her vehicle as she came around the corner. Rainy weather conditions and wet, slippery roads appeared to play a role in causing the accident.

Sonny Collins has confirmed that the female driver was arrested following the incident, and will be charged with reckless driving in adverse weather conditions, as well as driving without a valid driver’s license. Only minimal damage was caused to the buses, with no injuries.

The Horry County Schools spokesperson, Teal Britton, reports that the accident occurred at around 7.30am on Tuesday morning, at the intersection between Highway 707 and Big Block Road. The buses, which had collected students from the St. James and Socastee areas, was on its way to drop the children off at Early College High School, Horry Georgetown Technical College and the Scholar’s Academy at Coastal Carolina University. According to Britton, this is the first time that two Horry County school buses have been involved in the same accident.

According to local authorities, two students were transported by ambulance to Waccamaw Hospital to be looked over by doctor’s on their request. These students were however found to have no injuries.

Britton reports that there were 27 students on one of the buses, and 24 on the other bus. After preliminary examinations by rescue personnel, all the children were found to be free of injuries and the buses were permitted to continue on their way to drop the students off at school.

The driver of the car was released from custody later in the day, and will return to court next month to defend her charges and be sentenced. She will most likely be facing a hefty fine and her car will be impounded until she is able to prove that she holds a valid driver’s license.

At least 50 people have been killed and several others injured in a collision between a bus and a fuel tanker in Eastern Afghanistan on Friday.

The accident occurred in the Eastern Afghan province of Ghazni, in the Ab Band district at around 2am on Friday morning. The passenger bus was driving along the highway between the Kabul and Kandahar, the capital of Southern Afghanistan and the country’s second largest city. This stretch of highway is notorious for being one of the most dangerous roads in Afghanistan, with thousands of people dying in road traffic accidents each year.

Ghazni is situated in the main supply chain route for Nato goods entering Afghanistan in the north and then being dispersed to the South.

According to officials, at least 50 people were killed in the accident and six others injured, with women and children among the victims. Both vehicles burst into flames after the collision, and according to initial police reports, many of the bodies were so badly burnt that they were unable to be identified.

The head of one of the largest hospitals in Ghazni city, Baz Mohammad Himmat, said that only five injured individuals were brought to his hospital by ambulance. Unofficial reports indicate that one of the injured may have died in transit to the hospital, but this information is yet to be confirmed.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, has confirmed that the passenger bus collided with a fuel tanker in the Spin Band area of Ab Band. It is not yet clear which company was operating the fuel tanker, or what factors contributed to the accident. According to one police official, however, both vehicles were travelling at high speed when the incident occurred.

Afghanistan’s roads are known to be perilous, with the majority of vehicles on the road being old and poorly maintained. According to the interior ministry spokesperson, Sediq Sediqqi, public transport vehicles are no exception, leading to a high incidence of heavy casualty road traffic accidents. Roadside mines are common along major Afghan roads, but the police have ruled out a mine explosion as the cause of this collision.

There is no indication that the military or Afghan insurgents played a role in the accident, but Ghazni is a popular target for attacks by terrorist group the Taliban. The Taliban are currently leading a 10 year long insurgency struggle against the US appointed government and the 177,000 Nato troops who are due to withdraw from the country by the end of 2014.

Three cancer patients on their way back from a treatment center have been killed after their mini bus collided with a trailer in one of the worst accidents in Tasmania’s history.

The trailer, which was originally being towed by a truck, came loose while the truck was driving at high speed along a Tasmanian highway, before smashing into the front of the minibus. The bus then span out of control and smashed into an electrical pole.

Two passengers, an elderly man and an elderly woman, were found dead on the scene when rescue services and the police arrived yesterday, with a third person dying while in surgery at a local hospital shortly afterwards. Two further passengers, as well as the volunteer bus driver, were seriously injured, and were transported by ambulance to Mersey General Hospital and Launceston General Hospital, according to Sergeant Fox. All three remain in a critical condition.

The accident occurred on the Bass Highway in Elizabeth Town at around 1pm on Wednesday afternoon. The minibus, which was operated by non-profit organization Cancer Council, was transporting nine cancer patients from the WP Holman Clinic at Launceston General Hospital, where they had been receiving treatment. The bus was en route back to Devonport when the accident occurred, around 10km west of the town of Deloraine.

According to Sergeant Craig Fox, a senior member of the Elizabeth Town police department, rescue teams responded promptly to the accident, only to find mayhem on the highway.

“It was a very shocking scene, numerous injuries, general public who drove across the accident, witnesses. There were a lot of distraught people,” Fox said.  Members of the public had to be calmed down and dispersed from the scene by police officials.

The chief executive officer for Cancer Council Tasmania, Mr. Simon Barnsley, has expressed his distress at the accident, and said that the organization has been deeply saddened by the news. Barnsley also offered condolences on behalf of the staff and volunteers of Cancer Council Tasmania to the families of the deceased.

Dr. Stan Gauden, the director of the WP Holman clinic where the patients were receiving treatment has also expressed his sadness at the deaths and injuries incurred in the accident. Both Cancer Councial and the Launceston General Hospital will be available to provide support to family members of those who died or were injured in the accident.

This accident is the worst on Tasmanian roads since July 2009, when nine people were killed on the Midland Highway.

At least 34 people have died in India’s latest bus accident in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district on Monday, according to officials. The accident occurred when a loaded passenger bus carrying pilgrims to a shrine in Asha Puri skidded off the road and plunged down a 500 foot deep gorge.

It is unclear how many passengers were on the 42 seater bus, which was en route from Palampur to the village of Asha Puri, well known for its hilltop shrine that attracts thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year.  According to one of the survivors of the accident, however, the bus had been overcrowded when it departed from Palampur.

Passengers who survived the accident  told police officials that a large number of people left the bus at the previous stop in Makol village, a few kilometers before the accident.

The bodies of all of the 34 victims have been recovered from the wreckage by rescue crews and police officials, as well as six passengers who were injured. The injured were transported to local hospitals where they are receiving treatment. Among the injured is Mr. Sumir Kumar, the conductor of the bus. It is as yet unknown whether the driver is among the deceased.

Indian army personnel had to be brought in from Palmpur to assist the police department with the rescue operation, which took more than 12 hours due to the treacherous site of the accident, in a forested gorge.

Rescue workers had to use ropes and pulleys to descend into the gorge and recover the bodies and the survivors. According to survivors, the accident happened while the bus driver was adjusting his seatbelt, and took his eyes off the road. However, the results of the preliminary investigation into the accident suggest that mechanical failure may have also played a role in the accident.

An official inquiry into the accident is being opened by the government. The government has also announced that they will pay compensation of Rs20 000 to the families of those who were killed in the accident, and Rs 5000 to each of the injured survivors.

According to the accident report, most of the accident victims were local residents from Asha Puri.

This is the second major bus accident in less than a month in Himachal Pradesh, coming just three weeks after 53 people were killed and 46 injured when an overcrowded passenger bus rolled over into a gorge in the Chamba district.

Nebraskan authorities have confirmed that four people were killed, including two children, when a school bus was involved in a collision with a tractor-trailer transporting bales of hay in the rural Webster County of Nebraska on Wednesday.

In a statement released to the media, Webster Country Sheriff Mr. Troy R. Schmitz said that the drivers of both vehicles were killed in the accident, as well as two passengers who were students at Blue Hill Community School.

The identity of the drivers have been released by local authorities. Mr. Travis Witte, the 21 year old driver of the tractor-trailer, and Mrs. Marla Wentworth, the 59 year old bus driver, were both killed instantly in the collision.

The fatal collision occurred at an intersection between County Road R and County Road 1800 just north of Blue Hill town, which is close to the state border between Nebraska and Kansas. The accident happened between the hours of 4.30pm and 4.45pm on Wednesday afternoon.

The two students who were killed in the accident have been identified as 10 year old Caroline Thallman and 18 year old Dustin Tesdahl. The bus was also carrying five other students, all of which were taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor injuries. According to the Webster Country sheriff’s department, a 7 year old boy and a 6 year old girl have already been discharged from hospital, while an 8 year old girl and a 10 year old boy were transferred to a hospital in Hastings where they remain in a stable condition.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the accident, and the police are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.

An attorney based in Webster County, Sara Bockstadter, has extended her condolences to the families of those who were killed or injuried in the accident, and have asked for the Nebraskan community to provide comfort and support to everyone who was affected by the accident. It is hoped that the results of the investigation into the accident will provide some answers to the friends and family members grieving the loss of a child. It remains to be seen whether any legislative proceedings will follow, depending on what the cause of the accident is established to be.

After the accident, the Blue Hill Community School District has established a crisis center on the school campus to assist fellow students and family members with counseling and information surrounding the incident.

The date for an accident inquiry into the fatal bus crash that killed a teenage high school student in March 2010 has been set for the November this year.

Natasha Paton, a 17 year old student from Lanark Grammar School, was killed after a hired bus transporting 39 school pupils and five staff members from the school to the Alton Towers amusement park in west Scotland during a snowstorm in 2010. Paton was the only person killed in the accident, which also left 44 people injured.

Paton was killed after the bus smashed through a bridge railing into a river on the A73 close to the town of Biggar in South Lanarkshire just before 6am on the 31 March 2010. The bus plunged 3.5 meters into the water, and Paton was thrown through a window. The bus then rolled over and crushed her.

Officials have confirmed that the inquiry into the fatal accident will begin at Lanark Sheriff Court. One of the key items on the agenda at the inquiry will be the dubious decision to continue with the bus journey despite what reporters at the time described as ‘horrendous’ weather conditions. It remains to be seen whether the decision to drive through the snow storm was made by the driver, the staff and pupils on the bus or the bus company.

Paton’s parents have made it clear that they are not seeking compensation from any parties regarding the accident, but are eager to find some answers as to why their daughter died. The parents of one of the other children on the bus, one of whom was a driving instructor, have stated that they believe it was negligent of the coach company and the driver to carry school children on a long distance journey in such terrible weather.

Alan Purdie, the owner of the bus company that provided the bus and the driver, denied any negligence on the part of his driver at the time of the incident. Purdie believed that black ice was to blame, and claims that weather reports on the day of the accident belied the severity of the snowstorm.

At the time of the accident, Scotland was experiencing some of the worst blizzards in its history, leaving more than 30 000 homes without electricity and a number of main roads closed to the public due to heavy snow and treacherous driving conditions.

It remains to be seen whether anyone will be found liable for the accident and Paton’s death.

At least 42 people have been killed and 25 others injured after the bus in which they were travelling plunged into a ravine while traversing the Atlas mountains in the South of Morocco.

The bus was travelling between the popular tourist destination city of Marrakesh and the town of Ourzazate in southern Morocco when the accident occurred, about 100km south of the capital. According to eye witness reports, the bus suddenly veered off the main road in the mountainous province of Haouz at around 2am on Tuesday morning, plunging more than 150m into a gorge.

A local official has confirmed that all of the deceased are thought to be Moroccan citizens. However, the identification of the victims is not yet complete. This is the most fatal bus accident in Morocco’s history. Morocco’s poor road conditions have been implicated in a number of accidents, the most recent being a bus accident that resulted in 24 people drowning after their bus plunged into a river outside the capital city, Rabat. In July of this year, a further 12 people were killed when a lorry driver crashed into an overloaded passenger bus in central Morocco.

Moroccan based news agencies have confirmed that as well as the 42 fatalities, at least 25 people have been injured, all of whom have been transported to regional hospitals and are undergoing treatment. Several passengers were critically injured, and the death toll of the accident is expected to rise.

Emergency response vehicles were dispatched to the accident scene where they attempted to free the bodies of the deceased and survivors from the wreckage. According to MAP news agency, 38 people were found dead on the scene, and a further five died en route to hospital.

The cause of the tragic accident has yet to be determined, and Moroccan officials have confirmed that an investigation into the crash has been opened. A crisis team has been formed to deal with queries from survivors and the families of the deceased. The Haouz provincial governer, Mr. Younes El Bathaoui, travelled to the accident site to oversee the rescue efforts and the start of the investigation into the incident.

Road traffic accidents claimed 4200 lives in 2011, a figure that is expected to rise this year. The minister of transport has sent his condolences to the family members of those killed in the crash, and stated in a press release that he is aware that changes need to be made to improve the safety of public transport in the country.

The friends of a high school student from New Jersey who was killed in a party bus accident on Friday have taken to social media networks to express their mourning.

David Fernandez, a 16 year old high school student from Sayreville, New Jersey, was tragically killed after he stuck his head through an emergency exit hatch in the roof of a double-decker party bus on which he was travelling. The bus was approaching a highway overpass at the time, and Fernandez was partially decapitated by the force of hitting the overpass.

Fernandez was in a group of around 50 students who were travelling to a sweet sixteen birthday party on the party bus that was travelling from New York City to New Jersey. The accident occurred at 6.30pm on Friday evening, according to police spokesperson Steve Coleman.

Fernandez was a popular student, with close to 1000 people joining a Facebook group just 24 hours after his death to honor his life and leave final messages to Fernandez.

The bus that Fernandez was riding in was transporting students from their high school, St. Francis Prep in Queens, New York, to the sixteenth birthday part in Garfield, New Jersey. Fernandez was transported to Hackensack County Medical Center after the accident, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The double-decker party bus was owned by Designer Limousine, a bus charter and limousine hire company based in Long Island. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that the accident occurred on their well-known ‘largest party bus’ in the country. The company has referred the media to their media consultant, who has yet to make a comment on the incident.

A security guard. Alex Franco, who was present on the bus at the time, told the media that he had warned the high school students on the bus to keep clear of the roof hatch multiple times. Franco overheard the students complaining that it was too hot on the top deck of the bus, and went downstairs to ask the driver to turn on the air conditioning.

Franco then heard people screaming on the upper deck, and returned to the second floor, where he saw Fernandez’s body lying in the center of the aisle. The bus was stopped and emergency services were called immediately.

The exact circumstances surrounding the tragic accident are currently being investigated by the Bergen County Prosecutor, Mr. John Molinelli, who is yet to comment.

Investigators that have been examining the cause of a fatal bus accident in a tunnel in the Swiss alps in March, leaving 22 children and six adults dead, have stated that the findings of their investigation are inconclusive in a report released to the media last week.

The driver of the bus, a 34 year old Belgian national, was found to have heart problems in the investigation, but officials are unable to determine whether his heart problems contributed at all to the accident.

The driver, who died in the accident, was also reportedly taking anti-depressants daily at the time of the accident. His blood showed slightly raised levels of the anti-depressant, according the to post mortem report released on Thursday last week.

A case was opened after the fatal bus accident in an attempt to determine whether the driver was at fault in causing the crash. The prosecutors in the case requested that further post mortem examinations be performed by forensic pathologists to determine whether the driver’s anti-depressant use of ischemic heart disease may have played a role in causing the accident.

According to the post mortem report, the cause of the driver’s death were the severe injuries he received as a result of trauma when the bus smashed into the walls of the tunnel at high speed. There were no signs of a heart attack found in the post mortem examination. Apart from the anti-depressants, no other drugs or alcohol was found in the driver’s blood.

The driver’s left coronary artery was narrowed by more than 60 percent, a significant narrowing that would no doubt have lead to symptoms of heart pain, or angina. However the patient was not on any heart medication and the pathologist who compiled the report emphasized that there is no indication that an ischemic heart event occurred at the time of the accident.

The tragic bus smash, which killed 28 Belgian citizens on their way back from a school skiing trip, sent the quiet European country into mourning in March 2012. The prosecutor, Olivier Elsig, stated in a report released in June that their investigations into the accident were focusing largely on the driver, as previous hypotheses of another vehicle being involved, a problem with the bus mechanics and a defect in the road on which the bus was travelling had all been excluded. Now that the post mortem results on the driver have been found to be inconclusive, the investigation will continue in other avenues, says Elsig.