Over the last several years in areas around San Clemente, tour bus accidents have resulted in serious and fatal injuries. In most—if not all—of these bus crashes, investigators have suggested that the accidents could have been prevented. What are cities in Orange County and San Diego County doing to prevent similar crashes in the future? According to a recent article in The Mercury News, there is a new law in California allowing cities and counties to request tour bus inspections from the California Highway Patrol, yet most cities and counties in the state simply are not using the rule to help avoid tour bus collisions.

Using Assembly Bill 1677 to Prevent Tour Bus Crashes in California

As of January 2017, Assembly Bill 1677 has been in effect. What does this law do? The text of the bill explains that it requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), “upon request of, and in consultation with, representatives of a local government in a jurisdiction where tour buses operate, [to] develop protocols for entering into memoranda of understanding with local governments to allow the department to increase the number of the locally operating tour buses that are being inspected by the department.”

The author of the law, Assemblyman Phil Ting, introduced the bill just over a year ago “after a sightseeing bus went out of control near Union Square and injured 20 people,” according to the article. When Ting introduced the legislation, he emphasized how “dangerous buses fall through the cracks of today’s tour bus safety inspections,” and that communities throughout the state of California need “new tools to take charge and keep local streets safe.” However, spokespersons for the CHP have remarked that, since the law took effect about three months ago, “not one municipality or agency in the state” has used the law to request an inspection.

What is going on?

Are Costs Associated with Assembly Bill 1677 Outweighing County Safety Interests?

The CHP and others believe that one of the reasons no one has requested an inspection concerns cost. In addition to stating the reasons for the new law, the text of Assembly Bill 1677 also clarifies that it includes “a provision that the local government will reimburse the department for all actual costs associated with conducting additional inspections.” That latter part of the law is likely where the problem comes in for cities and counties in the state.

According to the article, cities and counties may not be requesting inspections because they are concerned about the costs associated with an inspection, which they must cover. Rosemary Shahan, the president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, believes the California legislature would have done better to “allocate money to the CHP to pay for additional inspections.”

Yet according to some, the problem is that many agencies in the state simply do not know about the law, and publicizing it could result in requests for inspections. Regardless of the reason, however, it is important to remember that “more than 20 people have died in tour bus crashes in Southern California in the past four years.” As such, something needs to change when it comes to tour buses and safety measures.

Contact a San Clemente Bus Accident Lawyer

If you have questions about filing a personal injury lawsuit, an experienced bus accident lawyer in San Clemente can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about how we can help with your claim.

See Related Blog Posts: Deadly Bus Accident in Southern California School Bus Safety Law in San Diego

(image courtesy of Stephane Milot)

According to a recent report from ABC News, a bus accident in San Francisco resulted in serious injuries to 20 people, including a bicyclist, car passengers, pedestrians, and tourists on the bus. Investigators continue to look into the causes of the accident, but early witness reports indicated that the double-decker bus “went out of control” in the moments before the crash, according to another report from CBS News. What happened in Northern California? And how can San Diego residents and visitors to Southern California prevent deadly bus accidents?

Bicyclist, Pedestrians Struck By Tour Bus The report from ABC News indicated that, before the collision occurred, the bus driver for City Sightseeing had been “driving erratically and speeding for at least two blocks.” The bus first struck a bicyclist before hitting two pedestrians. The bus kept going, and it did not appear to slow down even after it crashed into moving automobiles. One witness, according to CBS News, described the bus as “going very quickly through the intersection—like at least 40 miles per hour and it looked like it was going out of control.”

The bus did not stop until it plowed into a construction site in Union Square. By crashing into a construction area, the bus accident caused scaffolding to fall. Emergency responders reported that they had to “pull people out who were pinned underneath the bus and scaffolding.” A security worker in the area described the scene as horrific, and he recalled the sound of the collision as it occurred, “It was like a bomb going off—just the boom, boom, like it wasn’t going to stop.” Another witness reported that the bus did not appear to have working brakes given its path of destruction.

At the time of the crash, 30 passengers were on the bus. 20 people suffered personal injuries, and eight people were rushed to the hospital. One of those eight passengers who required hospitalization was reported to be a minor. Several days after the bus accident, four people remained in critical condition. We do not yet know if the accident resulted from driver error or a mechanical problem. Investigators have made clear that, as part of their standard operating procedures, they will look into the possibility of:

• Mechanical malfunctions and defective auto parts;
• Narcotics use.

Learning More About Tour Bus Accidents In 2011, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) prepared a study on motorcoach safety. It gathered data and reported some of the following facts and figures:

Each year more than 240 million people took trips on charter or tour buses. When accidents happen on buses, bus passengers tend to be relatively injury-free (around 45 deaths for every 100,000 accidents). Pedestrians, bicyclists, and occupants of other vehicles tend to sustain the brunt of the injuries reported in serious bus accidents. Between 2005 and 2010, an average of 1,003 bus accidents occurred each year. On average, 32 were fatal (totaling 44 deaths), and 505 were nonfatal.

If you or someone you love sustained injuries in a bus accident, you should speak with an aggressive San Diego bus accident lawyer to learn more about filing a claim for compensation. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about our services.

See Related Blog Posts: Students Injured in San Diego County School Bus Accident School Bus Safety in California