Birmingham Personal Injury Lawyer - Mass Transit (Airline, Cruise Ship, Train, Bus)

Death on Rails

Jon Lewis — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:59:11 GMT

Yesterday, there was a tragic incident in the Washington, D.C. Metro area.

Norfolk InjuryBoard Article, by Rick Shapiro

By now, most people have heard that two Metro area trains collided killing at least six individuals and hurting 60 more. I have followed this story with great interest because I will be riding these trains soon when I am in the D.C. area. My questions about this event have been numerous, but the first, and main question, is WHY?

View the Video Here:

NBC Chopper Video

One of the first things the investigation team will do is piece together the facts of this story. Where did they collide? What was the speed? Who was operating them? Who were the passengers? Were there any mechanical defects? Did the operators of the trains do anything wrong? Were proper procedures followed? These are questions which are asked to determine if the collision was preventable.

And why do we care if it was preventable? We want to know if we can prevent incidents like this in the future. We want to prevent death. We want to prevent injury. We don't want this to happen to us, and we don't want this to happen to our family members and friends. AND, we want to punish anyone who might have been reckless and wanton in their actions, i.e.: if one of the operators was under the influence of alcohol (I AM NOT SUGGESTING THEY WERE - JUST AN EXAMPLE).

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will handle this, but attorneys for the families will get involved too. The families have lost loved ones - maybe the bread winner of the home. Some of the injuries will be devastating, and the people will need constant care. Who will pay for all of this and take care of these individuals? Should it be our health insurance companies and money out of their own pocket, or should the people who were negligent or reckless foot the bill through their insurance carriers. I would obviously suggest the latter, but what do you think?

Most individuals don't understand that the tort system is essentially a cost shifting mechanism to assign financial responsibility to those at fault. And isn't that the way it should be?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jon Lewis

Bus Crash Near Lincoln, Alabama

Jon Lewis — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:53:49 GMT

Early Monday morning, there was a bus crash near Lincoln, Alabama on Interstate 20. This was a greyhound bus. According to the Birmingham News, there were 32 people on the bus, and 21 people were sent to Birmingham area hospitals.

According to the State Troopers, the front driver's side tire blew and caused the driver to lose control, hit the guardrail, and crash into a bridge column. Apparently, this crash caused a huge traffic problem in light of the race fans leaving NASCAR's Aaron's 500 on Monday morning.

Many people think these types of accidents just happen, but usually, there is some negligence involved. Buses are governed under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation. As such, drivers and companies are responsible for the safety of their passengers. They must conduct pre-trip inspections which include the inspection of tires.

Who knows if this bus was properly maintained? Did the driver conduct a pre-trip inspection? Was the tire worn? Did they properly rotate the tires? There are reasons for engaging in these activities - mainly to keep people safe and prevent accidents. Fortunately, in this case, no other vehicles were involved, and apparently, no one was seriously injured.

These passengers trust their lives to the drivers and companies of these commercial vehicles. Consequently, the drivers and companies need to take their jobs and their safety inspections seriously. Maybe this was a case of a defective tire, but if not, it is a shame that individuals had to be injured in order to reinforce the necessity of safety inspections.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jon Lewis

Bus Accidents

Jon Lewis — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:30:21 GMT

More than three decades ago, UCLA engineers performed a series of classic school bus crash studies, which determined that the major cause for injury in school bus accidents was the inadequacy of school bus seats. They proposed “compartmentalization” of the child occupants between high-back, well-padded and well-anchored seats capable of absorbing crash forces with large aisle side panels to contain riders. A lap belt was recommended to provide substantial additional protection.

Approximately ten years later, in response to a Congressional mandate, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") promulgated Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 222 that provided for some of the proposed features. The 222 seat was better anchored, padded and designed for energy absorbing and was 4 inches higher than seats then in use. No seat belts were required under 222 and the seat height, while improved, was still lower than UCLA engineers recommended.

The NHTSA continued to research the crashworthiness of School buses for the next 25 years before releasing in April 2002, “REPORT TO CONGRESS, School Bus Safety: Crashwothiness Research.” A majority of this report focused on front impact collisions (to the exclusion of side-impact concerns) and again, concluded that while seat belts and additional height on the seats of buses would provide increased safety, their marginal benefits did not outweigh the costs of implementation. Additionally, the NHTSA concluded that the installation of seat belts would cause a 17% loss of seating capacity resulting in substantial additional expenses to school districts. This was because three restraints cannot be fitted to a 39” seat (standard size on most buses).

It should be noted that, despite measures predating the 2002 report, litigation in school bus accidents has been somewhat common, particularly in relation to the failure of existing safety measures.

A $28 million accident settlement by the Flagstaff Arizona School District for a school bus rollover accident which caused 31 injuries and 5 ejections. One child suffered a head injury that requires long-term care and another was left a quadriplegic after the accident.
Successful litigation based on the failure of compartmentalization and absence of seat belts with commensurate settlements has occurred in Corpus Christi and Galveston Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Maryland, and Memphis, Tennessee.
On March 28, 2000, a train struck the passenger side of a Murray County, Georgia, School District school bus. During the accident sequence, the driver and three children were ejected. Two of the ejected passengers received serious injuries and one was fatally injured. Of the four passengers who remained inside the bus, two were fatally injured, one sustained serious injuries. One, who was restrained by a lap belt, suffered only minor injuries.

New Federal Rule to Make School Buses Safer and Allow Districts to Use Federal Funds to Pay for Seat Belt Installations

New federal rules announced last week will make the nation’s 474,000 school buses safer by requiring higher seat backs, mandating lap and shoulder belts on small school buses and setting safety standards for seat belts on large school buses.

“Even though riding in school buses is the safest form of travel in America today, any accident is still a tragedy,” said Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. “Taken together, these steps are designed with a single purpose, making children safer.”

The new rule requires all new school buses in America to be equipped with 24-inch-high seat backs, instead of the 20-inch-high seat backs previously required. Higher seat backs will help prevent taller and heavier children from being thrown over the seat in a crash, decreasing the chance of injury to them and the children in front of them.

New school buses weighing less than five tons will be required to have three-point seat belts. She noted that the lap and shoulder belts better protect children in small buses, adding that smaller school buses are more vulnerable because they don’t absorb shock as well as larger buses.

The federal government also set new standards for seat belts on large school buses. Standards will improve seat belt safety and help lower the cost of installing the belts. This measure was taken despite the (pre-warned and now realized) conclusion that seating capacity on buses will be reduced. The federal government will allow school districts to use federal highway safety funds to pay for the cost of installing belts.

Deputy Transportation Secretary Thomas Barrett, outlined the new school bus rules during a visit to a Deatsville, Ala., Elementary school with the Alabama Governor, Bob Riley. It was a phone call from Governor Riley to Secretary Peters following a November 2006 bus crash in Huntsville which helped prompt the new rule.

For the entire text of the new rule, visit:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Rulemaking/Rules/Associated%20Files/SchoolBusBeltsFinal.pdf

Matt Tynan, Author

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jon Lewis