Bus Accident Lawyer

An accident involving a Bibb County school bus and a passenger car took place on the morning of Thursday, January 16^th. The accident sent a student and the driver of the sedan to a local hospital.

The school bus was transporting 36 students to Howard High School Thursday morning when the driver of a white Nissan Maxima sedan drove headlong into the front of the bus. The driver, Tianitia Tolbert of Macon, Georgia, was reportedly heading in the opposite direction of the bus but crossed into oncoming traffic on Forsyth Road, hitting but school bus’ front bumper.

According to a news release from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Tolbert was hospitalized and is in stable condition. Of the students who were injured, most were treated on the scene while one was taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia for treatment of minor injuries. That student is also in stable condition.

Forsyth Road was blocked for quite some time as police attempted to investigate the scene of the accident and emergency and wreck vehicles attempted to clear the victims and the vehicle. The students on the scene were transported via a second bus to the Howard High School and Middle School complex, a short distance away from where the accident took place.

The accident took place at seven o’clock in the morning, and sent several ambulances rushing to the scene, though initial reports to the police apparently indicated that there had only been an injury to the driver.  Tolbert was tested at the scene and found not to be impaired, though there was an open can of beer in the car. She indicated that she had not been drinking at the time of the accident.

Tolbert has been charged by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office with an open container violation, failing to maintain lane and with driving with a suspended license.  Of the thirty-six students on board the bus at the time, thirty-five were scheduled to be dropped off at the Howard High School and one was on their way to the Hutchings Career Center. The majority of the students were asked to stay on the bus while the accident investigation was conducted, and were apparently in good spirits as they could be seen waving from the bus to a local news photographer.

A six-year old boy from Atco, New Jersey was struck and killed by the school bus that had arrived near his home to pick him and other school children up and take them to their Waterford Township school.

The child, identified as Edmond Bock IV, was a student at the Atco Elementary School. According to Newlin Schoener, the superintendent of the school district, it was raining heavily on the morning of the school bus accident, and the child reportedly ran from his house and was subsequently struck by the bus when he crossed in front of it, in the bus driver’s blindspot.

According to Schoener, the bus driver was a substitute who was filling in on the route for the normal driver that morning, but that he had been a bus driver for 25 years. The bus was owned and operated by Hillman’s Bus Company, which holds the contract for bus service for the school district.

The driver, who has not been named, was subjected to both blood tests and a urine analysis, as per standard protocol. He was also questioned by police investigating the tragedy.

The superintendent indicated that the situation is being regarded by the school district as an accident, expressing concern for both the family of the child who was killed and the driver involved in the accident.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family – I can’t imagine how they must feel. Nothing can compare to it.”

The accident took place shortly before the school day was set to begin at 8:30 in the morning, and took place a short distance from the child’s home. Police says the bus had stopped to pick up students when he walked in front of it, and he was apparently still in front of the bus when it began to move. Police are still determining whether any criminal charges need to be filed.

The school district took immediate action in light of the tragedy, getting in touch with the families of all of those who were on the bus at the time of the accident, as well as with the families of children who were in the child’s classroom. Counselors are being made available for students.

A Royal Excursion charter bus headed from the Four Winds casino in Michigan back to the South Bend, Indiana area was involved in a fatal crash in LaPorte County, Indiana. State police have indicated that the accident was caused by the weather conditions, which included blowing snow.

The accident took place at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon when a pick up truck driven by 36-year old John Kallok of Griffith, Indiana started drifting westbound across highway 20 and into the eastbound lanes where it encountered oncoming traffic.

A representative of the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department indicated that the inclement weather was at faul and the pick up apparently lost control. The driver swerved directly into the path of the oncoming bus, which was carrying over a dozen passengers. The driver was declared dead at the scene after having been extricated from his vehicle by local fire departments. Paramedics on the scene report that he was trapped in the wreck, and and the “jaws of life” apparatus was required to free him. The coroner reports that he died of blunt force trauma.

The bus passengers sustained minor injuries, with 15 adults taken to local hospitals for wounds that were described as non-life threatening. The brand new vehicle was equipped with seatbelts, and the bus driver is credited by police for his quick reactions and response, which prevented the bus from rolling over. According to police, the diver drove his large vehicle through a ditch and then slid 300 feet off of the road into a nearby cornfield. The sheriff’s department indicated that it was “miraculous” that the bus did not overturn, pointing out that the vehicle narrowly missed hitting a tree line and that the front windshield was shattered.

The Royal Excursion company issued a public statement that read: “We pray for comfort and strength during this sorrowful and difficult time. We extend compassion to the passengers who suffered injuries and to all passengers on-board. We are working to make sure that those who were injured received immediate medical attention.”

The accident scene required seven ambulances and medic teams to transport the bus passengers to local hospitals.

A New Jersey Transit bus carrying several people was involved in a serious accident that left the driver and eight passengers injured and a commercial building in Newark, New Jersey close to collapse.

The accident took place in the middle of Newark’s busy downtown area, and was apparently a result of the public transit bus being struck by a yellow taxi just after midnight.  According to authorities the bus and the cab collided on Market Street and the force of the impact sent both vehicles across the road, where the bus crashed into the corner building. A city official predicted that the building would likely collapse during the process of removing the bus from the brick edifice.

The driver of the bus was said to have suffered the worst injuries, and was taken to University Hospital in Newark, as were eight bus passengers and the driver of the yellow taxi. All had been released within several hours of the accident.

Clean up following the accident was expected to take quite a bit of time, as twelve hours after the accident took place the taxi was still where it had come to rest on the sidewalk and the bus remained stuck in the building. The accident created havoc in the middle of Newark’s busy downtown area, reducing the flow of traffic each way to just one lane and requiring a police presence to help direct traffic.  Police sent out tweets suggesting that drivers avoid the area around the intersection of Market Street and Washington Street, but the traffic extended beyond that area due to the barriers and detours that were set up to try to keep people away. An excavator was brought in to help with digging the transit bus out of the rubble.

According to New Jersey Transit, the bus had been on its way to Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey when the accident took place, and though the accident scene was still under investigation, NJ Transit spokesman William Smith indicated that the taxi had struck the bus.  The mayor of Newark, Luis Quintana, praised the work of the police, firefighters and first responders in attending to the injured and keeping the accident scene under control.

Two separate casino tour buses crashed in a single day this past week, reemphasizing the need for safety in the industry. The separate crashes resulted in one fatality and dozens of injuries.

In the first incident, which took place in Fallbrook, California, just north of San Diego, a Valley View Casino tour bus turned over while driving south on Interstate 15. The bus originated in Bell and was on its way to the casino when, according to the bus driver, the bus started to drift out of its lane. The driver told authorities that he had tried to correct the vehicle’s course, and in the process the bus turned over.

The conditions were clear at the time of the crash, with no rain. One passenger was killed and 22 were injured in the incident, with several of the injuries reported to have been serious. Ambulances and other first responders were sent to the scene, which included the grizzly sight of a passenger that had been ejected during the crash and was pinned underneath the bus. Authorities also report several other vehicles that appeared to be damaged in the vicinity, though it was unclear as to whether that was a result of the tour bus or if the other accidents were unrelated.

In the second accident, which happened on the same day, a Sina Coach tour bus carrying mostly Vietnamese casino-goers was returning from the Pala Casino in San Diego and was on its way to Westminster, California. The accident occurred in a rainstorm and left the bus on its side across Interstate 15 with 22 passengers injured.

The injured passengers were all adults and were reported to have only minor injuries. Most were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Sina Coach is a bus company that has a fleet of over two dozen buses, and according to information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there have been no reported crashes over the past two years.

The area has witnessed previous casino bus accidents, with the most recent one occurring in September. In that case the bus suffered a brake malfunction and crashed into the highway guardrail. Ten passengers were injured in that incident.

An accident involving a 52-year old passenger and an MBTA bus driving its route in Revere has left one woman dead and the bus driver distraught.

The accident apparently took place on Tuesday evening. Gayle Johnson, a 52-year old woman, was apparently struck and killed by the bus she had been riding on. Her body was dragged almost half a mile from where it was struck. The driver apparently had been unaware that the accident had taken place.

The incident took place in front of a fire station located on Broadway, and was discovered when the woman’s body was found lying in the road and an observer called 911 for help.

Upon arriving on the scene, Revere police determined that an MBTA bus had been driving in the area around the time of the accident. Further investigation yielded evidence that the woman had been killed after having been struck by the bus and then dragged.  She was apparently the last passenger that had been on board, and the vehicle was put out of service after she disembarked. The 56-year old bus driver reportedly drove away from the scene.

The driver was tested for drug and alcohol in his system despite the fact that there was no sign that he was impaired. The testing is standard policy for MBTA, though reports indicated that the driver had submitted to the test freely. He has hired an attorney and is reportedly distraught about the accident. There are reportedly no signs that he had been aware of the accident or that the woman’s body had been dragged.

The accident is being investigated by the district attorney’s office as well as by an accident reconstruction team. It may take several weeks before the results of the investigation are complete and a report is prepared.  At this time no charges have been filed.

The victim, Gayle Johnson, was said to have been a lifelong resident of Revere and was returning home from work on the same route that she took every night at the same time. She had worked in the mailroom of a bank.

A charter bus taking passengers on a group excursion and a passenger car were involved in an accident in San Antonio, Texas on the morning of Thursday December 5^th. Five people were reported to have been injured and required medical attention.

The incident was described as a head on collision that took place at approximately 9:00 in the morning at the intersection of W. Commerce and W. Military Drive on the west side of the city. Witnesses to the scene indicated that the passenger car was being driven by a woman and was carrying another female passenger. The vehicle made a turn onto West Commerce headed in the wrong direction. The bus driver, whose vehicle was on Commerce, swerved but was unable to avoid the oncoming vehicle and that is when the crash took place.

The women who were in the passenger car were both reportedly injured and taken to University Hospital. Both are expected to survive. The bus driver was reportedly unhurt, but three people who were passengers on board the bus at the time were reportedly also taken to local hospitals following the accident. The two men and one woman who were removed from the scene received medical treatment of minor injuries and were released shortly after.

The charter bus involved in the accident was reported to be taking the group to SeaWorld. The vehicle is operated by Masters Touch Christian Charter Services. The bus company’s website indicates that prior to this incident, the company’s vehicles have travelled over one million miles without ever having been involved in an accident or having received a traffic violation.

If true this is a remarkable feat: the National Transportation Safety Board has recently issued statistics that indicate that the charter bus and intercity carrier bus accident rate is far higher than that seen by more traditional bus carriers.

There are a number of reasons why tour bus and charter buses are involved in more accidents, but the majority of them have to do with the lack of regulation involved in their operations. Much also has to do with the lack of seat belts and a lack of rules during which drivers can operate. The Masters Touch Christian Charter Services website does indicate that they limit the driving hours for their drivers and that all transportation laws are observed.

A passenger bus carrying almost three dozen passengers was involved in an accident last week on I-55, the Stevenson Expressway in the Chicago area. The bus was a PACE bus, one of the vehicles that provides bus service to the suburban Chicago area and connects a variety of communities. The accident injured three passengers, though their injuries were described as minor by state police.

The PACE bus was driving on the shoulder of Interstate 55 at 7:30 in the morning under the guidelines of a special program that allows the high-occupancy vehicle to utilize the shoulder during rush hour. The shoulder program is also intended to increase ridership on the popular public busses. The accident took place  when another vehicle which was also reported to be a bus attempted to enter the shoulder from the traffic lane. On doing so they hit the PACE bus near its front door, preventing the passengers from being able to exit. Another vehicle is also said to have been involved in the accident, though details are not clear as to the third vehicle’s involvement.

Emergency teams were required to remove the door of the bus in order to extricate the passengers. Three on board were taken off of the Pace bus on stretchers and were taken to nearby MacNeal Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The rest of the passengers awaited transfer onto the next scheduled Pace bus. The scene of the accident was quickly cleared.

Pace buses have been involved in a number of crashes over the last several months, including an accident in March that killed a passenger. In that incident the driver of the Pace bus had swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian and the bus hit a light pole. The crash killed a 58-year old passenger. Almost a year to the day before the I-55 accident a Pace bus and a car were involved in a crash that injured sixteen passengers. In that incident none of the injuries were life threatening.

Pace buses carry thousands of passengers every day in the Chicago area.

The driver of a regional public transit bus that was involved in an accident in late October will not be charged in the incident according to a statement released by the 9^th Judicial District attorney’s office. The driver, Jaime Nunez, works for the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA), and he was driving the bus on Highway 82 when he encountered a slow-moving tractor trailer and the accident ensued. Eleven passengers on board the bus were hospitalized as a result of the accident.

The tractor trailer driver, Travis Wingfield, is being charged with a Class B traffic offense for not having a slow-moving vehicle emblem displayed on his vehicle.  That citation is considered a minor infraction that comes with a monetary fine.

There were twelve people including the driver on board the RFTA bus at the time of the accident, and the driver was the only one among them that did not require hospitalization. According to his statement he came upon the tractor trailer in the early evening and had to swerve to avoid missing it because it was moving so slowly.  After cutting left his bus veered briefly into the median and then corrected itself onto the highway, but hit a modular barrier on the side of the road and then rolled onto its side.  There were some serious injuries reported but all of the passengers are now home.

According to the report from the state police, the tractor trailer was traveling at a rate of 20 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone, and the vehicle’s lights were not properly alerting the traffic around it. The driver of the RFTA bus tested negative for drugs and alcohol and it was determined that he was travelling within the legal speed limit for the area.

The tractor trailer was being driven for a local ranch, and according to Colorado law this type of heavy machinery that is not travelling above 25 miles per hour is required to indicate their status via a slow-moving vehicle emblem.  The CEO of the RFTA indicated that had the driver not swerved the accident would have been far worse and that the correct decision was made.

An accident between a CT Transit bus and a New Haven police officer occurred this week.  The bus was carrying dozens of passengers, including children, and many of them were taken to the hospital following the incident. The police officer was also injured and taken to the hospital, though a police spokesman indicated that the injuries the officer suffered were not considered life threatening.

The accident took place in the morning on a popular street dotted with churches and the local library. The bus involved in the crash was a double-length articulated vehicle. There were no fatalities, and of the 22 adults and four children who were on board at the time of the accident, four decided against being treated at the hospital.

Passengers remarked on the shock of suddenly being thrown through the air, and described the panic that followed the crash.

“Everybody was falling all over the place at the same time, kicking out the windows so the bus didn’t catch on fire and trying to get off the bus as fast as they can,” said Gregory Andrews, a passenger at the time of the crash.

A spokesman for the New Haven police department indicated that the police officer, identified as Victor Herrera, was on duty and was headed to Union Station, responding to a police call of a reported fight. Witnesses to the accident said that more than one police car was seen rushing down Elm Street, and that Herrera’s car was the second one heading down the street when it collided with the CT Transit bus, which was crossing on Temple Street.

The officer was said to have tried to turn his vehicle to avoid the accident but was not able to. His cruiser ended up at rest on a corner after having collided with a stone post. At this point the accident is still under investigation and no determination has been made as to who was at fault.

Response to the accident was immediate, with more than a dozen ambulances arriving and removing passengers on stretchers. The police vehicle involved was badly damaged and the bus had a broken front windshield. A number of bicycles had been being transported on its front rack and were also damaged, as was the light pole that the bus struck.