Articles Posted in Bus Accident

A 27-year-old man has been arrested on charges of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI after authorities say his action caused a deadly Chicago Transit Authority crash this month.

It was the second such accident to happen in a single week.

Chicago personal injury lawyers are aware that CTA buses average one accident every single day, according to records kept by the Federal Transit Administration.

While not all of these instances result in injury or death, it is a risk riders take every time they get on a city train or bus. And a risk motorists and pedestrians take whenever they are traveling in close proximity to these large buses.

According to The Associated Press, the incident involving the 27-year-old happened early Sunday morning on the city’s South Side. Police say the CTA bus was heading southbound, while a vehicle heading north bound crossed over into the bus lane and hit it. The driver’s 31-year-old passenger was killed.

A number of passengers were on the bus as well, though all of them refused medical treatment, and none were taken to the hospital.

The AP reported that in addition to the homicide and DUI charges the driver faces, he was also cited for speeding, failing to stay in his lane and not having a license or insurance.

Another incident unfolded Thursday when a car was struck by a train on the CTA’s Blue Line.

Mass delays were reported when a car jumped a retaining wall on the Eisenhower Expressway on the West Side. The newspaper reported the car rammed into a retaining wall, landed on the tracks and was struck by a train. It took crews more than three hours to repair the damage and get the tracks back in working order once again.

According to the Chicago Tribune, there had been 30 passengers on the train at the time of the accident Thursday, and seven had to be transported to the hospital.

The driver of the car was able to get out before the train hit, but two passengers who had been inside were not able to escape. They were also transported to the hospital for treatment, though it does not appear their injuries were life-threatening.

It may seem that incidents such as these are rare. But in fact, the FTA has determined that Chicago’s public transportation system has some serious safety flaws. Fox Chicago News has reported that our public bus systems have more crashes than any of the nine other largest public bus systems in the nation. In fact, there is at least one crash every single day involving CTA buses.

In 2010, CTA officials said they were not happy with those numbers, and vowed to change them. They said they would focus on training their drivers, specifically on defensive driving techniques.

It’s unclear whether the department has followed through with that strategy, but what is obvious is that these type of accidents continue to occur.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the CTA is the second-largest public transportation system in the country, and covers more than 40 suburbs. On any given day during the week, the CTA picks up nearly 2 million riders, and there are more than 2,000 buses that operate on more than 150 routes over more than 2,200 miles. That breaks down to 12,000 bus stops – and countless opportunities for injuries.
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A recent school bus accident in Kane County sent nine students and a bus driver to local hospitals. The school bus was carrying a group of special-needs students through Big Rock as it flipped on its side, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.According to the Kane County sheriff’s department, the accident happened just after 8:00 a.m. on Camp Dean Road and Granart Road as the students were being bused to Kreici Academy in Naperville. The accident forced Granart Road to be shut down for about three hours.

Our Illinois school bus accident lawyers understand that officers have yet to determine why the school bus left the roadway when the accident happened. In the area in which the accident occurred, the shoulder is narrow and slants into a ditch. Reports indicate that the driver of the bus tried to get the bus back on track, but failed to do so before the wheels went into the ditch. The bus landed on its side, but didn’t roll over. Luckily, all of the children on board were wearing seat belts when the accident happened. The company that owns the bus, North American School Bus, requires all passengers to wear a seat belt.

Drivers who were passing by when the accident happened helped to get the special-needs students off of the bus after it tipped over.

Three of the students were taken to Provena Mercy Center and six were taken to Delnor Hospital.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 20 million young children who ride the a school bus to and from school and school-related activities. School buses are also used to help children to get to athletic activities, church, camp and other youth events. Since 2000, there have been more than 371,000 fatal traffic accidents. Of these fatal accidents, nearly 1,250 were classified as school transportation-related. In these fatal school-related accidents, more than 1,385 people died. This means that an average of 139 people died each year. School-transportation vehicle occupants who were killed during this time were a part of the near 10 percent of all roadway fatalities. Nonoccupants, bicyclists and pedestrians involved with school-related vehicle accidents accounted for another 20 percent of the fatalities.

A majority of the people who were killed in these accidents were the occupants of other vehicles involved. Since 2000, there have been nearly 150 school-age pedestrians, under the age of 19, who have been killed in school transportation-related accidents. In addition to these fatalities, another 170,000 students are sent to the emergency room with a variety of injuries.

Children are asked to be courteous to the bus driver when riding to and from school on the big, yellow bus. Children are asked to keep their voices down, to remain seated and to keep objects out of the aisle. Unfortunately, even with following all of the proper safety precautions, accidents do happen. Make sure that you seek the advice of an experienced attorney if your child has been injured in a bus accident. Failure to act could your ability to collect the compensation necessary to deal with current or future medical issues.
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The National Transportation Safety Broad (NTSB) recently released a report that concluded that you’re seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal bus accident in Chicago and elsewhere on a curbside bus than on a traditional terminal bus. The six-month study was ordered after a string of fatal crashes, including a Bronx busing accident in March that killed 15 passengers and injured another 18. The study proved that safety officials are having a tough time keeping up with regulating of these popular buses.”Business and safety practices within the growing curbside bus industry create challenges for enforcement authorities and consumers alike when it comes to separating the safe operators from the unsafe operators,” NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman.

Our Chicago bus accident attorneys understand that these cheaper curbside buses are harder to track down for safety inspections because they don’t run out of typical terminals. Another factor hindering the regulation of these buses is the ticket sales. Tickets for curbside buses are sold through online brokers. Unfortunately, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) doesn’t have the right to control or monitor these sales.

With the release of this report, investigators and federal officials can now examine the information and look for a starting point to start better regulating these carriers.

Curbside buses typically run on scheduled paths and start and end at spots that aren’t terminals where passengers are boarding or exiting. These buses also have more than one stops instead of one starting stop and one destination. Through this report, the FMCSA conducted compliance reviews, focus groups, interviews and various observations in search of information to help them to more efficiently rate the safety of these popular buses.

Findings of the study include:

-Curbside carriers that have been in business for less than 10 years and have fewer than 10 buses are much more likely to be in an accident and much more likely to fail an inspection and a review than a traditional bus.

-Accident statistics from 2005 to March of 2011 concluded that curbside buses were involved in seven times as many accidents as conventional bus operations.

-Curbside buses are harder to stop for inspections because they don’t typically have a “bus barn” or a terminal.

-There aren’t enough inspectors. There are only about 900 FMCSA personnel who can inspect buses and more than 765,000 buses. That means that ever 1.15 investigators has to inspect about 1,000 buses.

-Bus driver fatigue was reported as a top cause for bus accidents.

-Many drivers were cited for violations including language barriers and language discrepancies.

Since March, there NTSB has investigated five separate busing accidents. These accidents took the lives of more than 20 people and injured nearly 160 more.

When a passenger boards a bus, they should be thinking about their safety and the reliability of the bus and the bus’ driver. Unfortunately, these cheaper bus rides don’t provide passengers with the safest rides. Travelers are urged to look into busing companies before choosing one to ride with.
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“During this heavy summer travel season, we will remain alert and remove from our roads any passenger bus or driver that places motorists at risk,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

As travel increases during these summer months, more bus accidents in Chicago and elsewhere are expected to occur. This is why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its state and local law enforcement partners conducted more than 3,000 surprise passenger carrier safety inspections. These inspections resulted in nearly 450 unsafe buses or drivers being removed from the nation’s roadways. Out-of-service citations were issued to 127 drivers and 315 vehicles during the surprise inspections.Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand that many residents and visitors will be traveling through the city this summer as they get out and enjoy summer vacations. Passengers of these buses expect these companies to keep them safe and get them to their destination safely. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. A number of bus companies operate with unsafe vehicles and drivers not fit for the road. That’s why the FMCSA steps in to push their safety rules and regulations on these companies to help to ensure passenger safety.

Motorcoaches transport roughly 750 million passengers ever year. Standards regulating roof strength, window glazing and a protected seating area reduce the risk of injury in an accident, according to the National Trasnportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB has placed bus accidents on their “most wanted” list. This list is a campaign that is used to raise awareness about preventable injury and to encourage states to increase their safety measures to regulate these companies. The FMSCA and the NTSB focus on these companies to help ensure the safety of all occupants. Both organizations continuously enforce new safety regulations and standards to make travel and equipment safer for these companies and for passengers.

As we recently reported on our Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, a recent Illinois bus crash resulted in injuries to 20 passengers. Although serious, that is a small portion of the accidents experienced throughout the entire year. In 2009 there were 2,528 bus accidents in Illinois (non-school bus related). These accidents resulted in 608 injuries and seven deaths.

“The public deserves safe passenger bus transportation every ride,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “FMCSA and its law enforcement partners will not rest until we weed out every unsafe passenger carrier and driver. Our ongoing strike force inspections are essential to protecting motorists and reaching our goal of zero fatalities involving commercial vehicles.”

In recent years, the FMSCA has upped the ante in these comprehensive safety reviews. It’s estimated that our nation has about 4,000 passenger bus companies. The Administration has increased their safety inspection efforts from 12,991 roadside safety inspections of motorcoaches in 2005 to nearly 26,000 inspections in 2010.

In another effort to protect bus passengers, the Administration passed a new final rule that requires any driver that is applying for a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to first have a commercial driver’s learner’s permit. The new rule also requires that every state licensing agency use a standardized CDL testing system and prohibits the use of foreign language interpreters to reduce the potential for testing fraud.

Safety is a top priority of the Department of Transportation. In an effort to increase and double check all safety measures, the DOT unveiled a new “Think Safety: Every Trip, Every Time.” pre-trip safety checklist. This checklist is to help consumers review a bus company’s safety record, safety rating and USDOT operating authority before they purchase a ticket.

The FMCSA has also banned commercial drivers from texting behind the wheel. They’re also looking to enact a rule that would prohibit hand-held mobile phone use by all drivers. Through the Motorcoach Safety Action Plan, the Department has proposed rules that will require all buses to have seat belts and electronic on-board recorders. These recorders will be used to replace easily the falsified paper records of driver hours. Drowsy driving is a top contributor to these busing accidents.

Travelers are urged to look into busing companies. You’re encouraged to look at their driving records, to look at their recent safety inspections and to look at the shape of their equipment. It may not always be your best bet to take the lowest priced company, but it’s is always safest to travel with the most reliable company.
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An Illinois bus crash has resulted in injuries to 20 people, according to msnbc.com. The collision took place on the Dan Ryan Expressway northbound local lanes at 47th Street on Sunday around 6 PM.

Ambulances took the injured to area hospitals. 12 of the people hurt were in fair condition, and 8 were good condition. Another 31 passengers on the bus refused treatment. None of the injuries are supposed to be serious, according to representatives from the Chicago Fire Department. Those hurt were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mercy Hospital, Holy Cross, St. Bernard Hospital and University of Chicago Hospitals.

Once the fire department arrived they initiated an emergency response plan that sent 20 ambulances to the scene.

A CTA bus accident early Friday morning has resulted in four people being hospitalized, according to Fox news in Chicago. The collision involved a car and bus at the intersection of Washington Street and Clark Street in the Loop.

Reportedly a number 20 Madison bus was headed eastbound around 3:15 AM when a car, also traveling eastbound, cut in front of the bus causing a collision.

Four CTA passengers were taken by ambulance to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Three of those hurt were taken to Mercy Hospital, and one was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Chicago Tribune.