One Dead, 22 Hurt in Mojave Desert Bus Accident

Posted on 21st May 2008 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

bus accident, bus accident and brain injury, bus accident lawyer, Royal American Tours and Charter bus accident, seat belt safety

We say it in almost every blog, but the lower standard of safety in bus design and enforcement, appears to be responsible for at least one death and 22 injuries in Ludlow, California, on May 17, 2008.

The accident was a one vehicle crash, where the bus tipped on its side. The fatality was a woman who was thrown from the bus. Eight others were seriously injured. The bus is owned by Royal American Tours and Charter of Glendale. For full details on the story, click here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2c2933%2c356509%2c00.html

According to Fox News:

The bus was the only vehicle involved in the wreck on Interstate 40, about 115 miles southwest of Las Vegas, said San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez.

“It did not roll over but it did land on its side,” she said.

Witnesses said the bus drifted across lanes and into the median, Officer Taj Johnson of the California Highway Patrol said.

While the full investigation hasn’t yet been completed, two major areas of inquiry would be whether the woman was wearing a seatbelt and how many hours the bus driver had been driving, before the accident. It is unlikely this woman would have been thrown if she was wearing a seat belt.

This type of accident, with the vehicle just drifting across lanes of travel before leaving the roadway, is highly suspicious of a driver who had fallen asleep.

If in fact no one on board was wearing a seat belt, we are very concerned about the potential for all on board, even those who are not in critical condition for suffering a brain injury. This type of unrestrained motion, with a bus flipping on its side, is guaranteed to have bodies flying in multiple directions. Any time the motion in a motor vehicle accident involves directs and angles that are not straight forward and back, the exposure to brain injury goes up exponentially. Even those who were not seriously injured, should be evaluated daily for potential memory, headache, dizziness or other brain injury symptoms.