Now that school is back in session in Carlsbad, it is important for parents to think carefully about school bus safety. Whether you children ride a school bus or walk to school in areas with school buses, bus accident and injury prevention should be on your mind this fall and throughout the school year.

According to a recent report from ABC News, most child injuries involving school buses occur when a motorist fails to abide by traffic laws pertaining to school buses. For example, automobile drivers might fail to stop when a bus stops to let kids off, or car drivers might not pay attention when they are speeding along roads where children are waiting for a school bus. At the same time, kids can get injured while riding on school buses. Despite all of these injury risks, the report points out that “a school bus is one of the safest vehicles on the road.” What do you need to know about school bus safety and bus accident prevention?

School Buses are One of the Safest Ways for Kids to Get to School

First, if your child takes the bus to school, you should not panic. As the report emphasizes, school buses really are one of the safest ways for kids to get to school. To be sure, school bus drivers “have gone through extensive training to make sure the kids are safe when getting on and off the bus.” Data from the American School Bus Council supports this point, noting that “students are about 70 times more likely to get to school safely if they take a school bus instead of traveling by car.”

Why are school buses safer than other forms of transportation? First, the structure of a school bus is such that passengers are safer than they would be in a smaller automobile. The color of school buses was also designed with safety in mind. With the bright yellow, they are less likely to be struck by cars, trucks, and other vehicles. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) also indicates that school buses are more regulated than any other vehicles on America’s roadways, and bus features (such as the extending stop-sign arm and the bright color) help to protect kids who are disembarking.

At the same time, however, school bus accidents do occur.

Learning More About School Bus Accidents and Safety Precautions

Although your child may be safer in a school bus than in another parent’s automobile, it is nonetheless important to keep in mind that accidents involving school buses can and do occur. As the ABC News report clarifies, a particularly high number of school bus-related accidents happen because drivers fail to stop when the stop-sign arms of a school bus is extended. Last year alone, about 96,000 incidents were reported in which motorists failed to stop—as traffic laws require—for a school bus. Accidents can also happen when students are not following bus rules, as well as when a school bus driver is negligent.

While parents cannot prevent every school bus accident, there are some safety measures we can take. The following are tips from Consumer Reports:

• Keep a safe distance from the bus as it approaches;
• Do not enter or exit a school bus until the drivers permits it;
• Stay as visible as possible to the school bus driver, which means walking at least 10 feet ahead of the bus when you cross in front of it and never crossing behind a bus;
• Use handrails when exiting the school bus;
• Wear a seat belt if one is available;
• Keep your arms, hands, and legs inside the bus;
• Remain in your seat while the bus is moving; and
• Do not get up from your seat until the bus has come to a complete stop.

Contact a Carlsbad Bus Accident Lawyer

If you have questions about filing a bus accident claim, a Carlsbad bus accident attorney can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about the personal injury services we provide to plaintiffs.

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Parents in Vista and throughout San Diego County should learn more about a recent bus crash that occurred when a school bus crashed into a tree and left several children with injuries. According to a recent article in U.S. News & World Report, the charter bus collided with a tree with 43 students on board. A report from NBC 7 San Diego indicated that the tree smashed through all of the windows on one side of the bus, shattering the glass and causing lacerations to a number of the children on board. Some of those kids suffered injuries to the face.

How did this bus accident happen? What can parents in Vista do to help prevent child injuries in school bus accidents?

San Diego County Bus Accident

According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the bus crash occurred in front of Joan MacQueen Middle School just before 5:00 p.m. in early March 2018. The child school bus passengers, along with two parents and the bus driver, had been returning from a field trip when the accident occurred. Emergency medical responders arrived at the scene of the crash and evaluated all of the children and other passengers. While some sustained minor injuries, the emergency medical responders reported that, fortunately, no one sustained serious or life-threatening injuries.

Some of the students did leave the scene with their parents to receive additional medical evaluations, however. Parents reported that “kids on the bus had glass shards on their head and in their hair following the crash.”

What caused the bus crash? According to Karen Hohimer, the principal of the middle school, the crash remains under investigation. In a statement, Hohimer said, “Law enforcement will conduct a full investigation of the accident, and we will stay in close contact with the parents of the children who were on the bus. We take this type of incident very seriously and want to assure you our school buses and chartered buses remain a safe form of transportation for getting children to and from school and field trips.”

Preventing School Bus Accidents

Based on reports from the recent bus accident, the company had a “satisfactory” safety rating and no obvious history of violations. Bus crashes can happen even when a bus driver or a bus company does not have a previous accident history. Even when bus crashes cannot be predicted based on the record of a bus driver or bus company, it is important for parents to consider safety tips to keep their kids safe.

The following safety tips come from the California Teachers Association (CTA):

• Ensure that children are dressed in bright clothing while waiting for the bus so that they can be seen;
• Remind children to behave properly while waiting for the bus to avoid an accident in the street;
• Stand away from the bus as it is approaching;
• Use the handrail when climbing into the bus;
• Be quiet on the bus to ensure that the driver does not get distracted from the task of driving and focusing on the road;
• Remain in your bus seat at all times;
• Do not kneel or stand on the bus seat; and
• In the event of an emergency, always follow the bus driver’s instructions and remain as calm as possible.

Contact a Vista Bus Accident Attorney

If your child was injured in a bus crash, a Vista bus accident attorney may be able to help. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information about the services we provide to injury victims in Southern California.

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(image courtesy of michael-mroczek)

Last year, the tragic death of a student in a school bus accident prompted California legislators to take action. Late last month, according to a recent article in the Whittier Daily News, a 19-year-old autistic teenager was left unattended in the back of a bus on a particularly warm day. At that time, no protocols were in place to require school bus drivers to check individual seats to ensure that no children were present on the bus. At the same time, school buses were not required to have alarms to help ensure that no kids are left unattended on hot school buses. Given the frequent high temperatures in Southern California, it is extremely important to have standards in place to ensure that children are safe when they take the bus to school or to school-related activities.

Now, as the article explains, Senator Tony Mendoza’s proposed legislation, S.B. 1072, passed the California State Senate unanimously at the end of last month, and now the bill is just waiting for a signature from Governor Jerry Brown.

School Bus Safety for Students

Senator Mendoza proposed S.B. 1072, as we mentioned above, in response to the death of an autistic student who, according to an article in School Transportation News, was “left behind on a school bus during a Southern California heat wave last September.” If the bill becomes law by September 30, 2016, its requirements will need to be implemented by the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year.

The primary feature of S.B. 1072 is to require the installation of child alarm systems in California school buses. As the proposed legislation explains, current California law requires schools “to prepare a transportation safety plan containing procedures for school personnel to follow to ensure the safe transport of pupils.” The bill would require additional safety mechanisms to ensure that students reach their destinations safely whenever they ride school buses in the state. Specifically, the bill would require schools to institute “procedures to ensure that a pupil is not left unattended on a school bus, school pupil activity bus, or youth bus.”

Details of S.B. 1072 and Newly Proposed Requirements

When the bill says it would require the institution of safety procedures to ensure that kids are not left unattended on school buses, what precisely does it mean? The proposed legislation also stipulates that it would require some of the following:

• Training or instruction for school bus drivers that would include “inspection procedures” for making sure that no children are left unattended on the school bus;
• Notification to the California Department of Motor Vehicles when a school bus driver has left a student unattended on the bus; and
• Installation of new safety equipment on school buses, specifically a “child safety alarm system” to ensure that kids do not remain on the bus once it is parked.

What is the “child safety alarm system”? As the language of the proposed legislation clarifies, it is “a device located at the interior rear of a vehicle that requires the driver to manually contact the device before exiting the vehicle, thereby prompting the driver to inspect the entirety of the interior of the vehicle before exiting.”

Contact a San Diego Bus Accident Lawyer

If your child got hurt in a school bus accident, a dedicated San Diego bus accident lawyer can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about how we can assist you.

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(image courtesy of bsabarnowl)

Are children at risk of suffering a serious injury in a school bus accident? Do we need to consider the risks of traumatic brain injuries when we rely on school transportation? According to a recent report in the Times of San Diego, eight kids sustained injuries earlier this month while aboard a school bus that “made an abrupt stop.” The accident occurred close to Flinn Springs County Park in the later afternoon. At the time of the injuries, the bus had been carrying about 50 children. The California Highway Patrol indicated that many of those young students “reported hitting their heads as the vehicle lurched to a stop.”

Emergency responders ended up transporting eight of those kids to a local hospital for “precautionary exams.” Those medics evaluated numerous other children at the scene of the accident who complained of hitting their heads. What caused the accident and injuries? According to the California Highway Patrol, “the driver of the bus may have braked hard to avoid a collision.”

Deadly School Bus Accidents are Not the Norm

A recent article in USA Today emphasized that statistically speaking, deadly school bus crashes are rare, particularly when we are speaking of fatal injuries to children on board. When school bus collisions are fatal, “they rarely kill children, who log thousands of hours riding each year.” The article examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), noting that between 2004 and 2013 only 1,214 fatal school-related transportation accidents occurred. How small is that number in comparison to other auto accidents during the same period? In short, school bus accidents represent only about 0.4% of all fatal traffic collisions between 2004 and 2013.

Even when deadly school-related transportation accidents do take place, the victims who suffer fatal injuries are rarely those who are riding on the bus. According to the NHTSA, just over 130 people die each year in school bus accidents. And of those victims, only about 8% are school bus passengers. Who are the more common victims of fatal school bus accidents? In general, passengers in other vehicles tend to be at greatest risk of deadly injuries.

The NHTSA indicates that nearly 75% of fatal school bus accidents involve passengers in other cars. The remaining fatalities tend to involve pedestrians and bicyclists. As the article points out, “once a bus begins rolling down the road, a child is, statistically speaking, safer inside the bus than outside it.”

Preventing School Bus Accidents and Injuries

If children tend to be safest once they are inside a school bus (as opposed to outside of it), how can we take preventive measures to ensure that our children remain safe while they wait for the bus or step off the bus at the end of the school day? The National Safety Council recommends some of the following:

• Stay away from traffic while waiting for the bus.
• When the bus approaches, wait until it has completely stopped before trying to board.
• Use the handrail when entering and exiting the bus.
• Walk at least 10 feet ahead of the bus before crossing in front of it so the driver can see you.
• Do not stand or walk anywhere near the rear wheels of the bus.

If your child suffered injuries in a school bus accident, you may be able to file a claim for compensation. An experienced San Diego bus accident attorney can answer your questions today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we can assist with your case.

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