You would probably have to search for a very long time to find anyone who would not agree that the most precious commodity transported on the nation’s highways are our children. They are among our most vulnerable passengers. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from 2 to 14 years old.
What is more disturbing is the number of school bus crashes which occur in the United States.
safeguard4kids, proponents of seat belts for school buses, lists these NHTSA statistics:
Since different organisations have their own ways of reporting, tracking and calculating school bus accidents and injuries, it is difficult to know how many children are actually injured in school bus accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that school bus crash data is incomplete and that injuries cannot be reliably estimated.1 We do know, however, that lap-shoulder belts can make a significant impact on injury reduction.
* According to the April 2002 NHTSA Report to Congress, every day there are over 144 school bus accidents (26,000 per year) in America and more than 9,500 children are injured in school bus accidents each year.
* According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there were an estimated 51,100 school bus-related injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments from 2001 to 2003, which averages to approximately 17,000 children injured in school bus accidents each year. This is the first study to describe nonfatal school bus–related injuries to U.S. children and teenagers treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments using a national sample. This study identified a much greater annual number of school bus–related injuries to children than reported previously.
* Data from the General Estimates System2 indicates that 13,000 people are injured annually in school bus crashes. Of those injured, 46 percent (5,980) were school bus occupants, 8 percent were school bus drivers, 38 percent were occupants of other vehicles, and fewer than 0.05 percent each were pedestrians, pedal cyclists and non-motorists.
Additionally:
According to 2005 data from NHTSA, an average of 21 school age children die in school transportation-related traffic crashes each year. Six of those deaths occur in school transportation vehicles. This number applies only to daily school routes and does not account for extracurricular activities that take place outside of normal school hours.
When I began posting headlines related to school bus incidents and accidents, I went very quickly from concern to shock at the number of school bus accidents occurring every day in this country. I have read follow up stories of drunk driving arrests among bus drivers and wondered why such stories do not elicit the sort of nationwide outrage that other media stories do. Not only are children the most precious cargo on the road, shouldn’t we trust those responsible for their safety to be beyond reproach character-wise?
What baffles me as well is reading over and over of school-buses being rear-ended by drivers who do not seem to pay much heed to those flashing lights or FREQUENT STOPS warnings, not to mention that a school bus should raise within in all of us a heightened sense of caution and care. I cannot even deliver an analogy as I can not imagine anything more fragile and valuable than our children.
There are plenty of stories of pickups and SUVs colliding with school buses in icy weather. Living in the midwest, I have myself observed the invincible driving attitudes of some of these drivers when road conditions are dangerous. They may think they can tackle an arctic storm without slowing down, but headlines say otherwise.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but it is a fact of life that certain times on week days, we can expect that school buses are out on the road. Before we get behind the wheel of our cars and stick the keys in the ignition, we should take a moment to confirm in our minds that there is precious cargo out on those roads and it is the responsibility of each and everyone of us to make sure that cargo is safely delivered to its destination.
Again and again, seat belt regulations for school buses fall through the cracks in state legislation. That means that the burden of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of all of us.
thelegaltimes.net staff article ©2009
Police: Students, others hurt in NY bus crash
Date: 2/25/2009
MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) — Police in New York say 17 students and their driver were taken to hospitals after a school bus collided with a truck on Long Island. None of the injuries is considered serious.
The wreck occurred around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Middle Island. The bus was from the Longwood School District. School district officials and the bus company haven’t returned phone calls seeking comment.
Police say the students were involved in an after-school activity, but they are unsure what it was. The victims’ names have not been released.
The front end of the truck was badly damaged, and many of the bus’ windows were smashed. The truck driver also has been hospitalized.
A police officer was hit by a car while directing traffic surrounding the accident, suffering a serious but not life-threatening back injury. The car’s driver was not charged with any crime.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) — Police in New York say 17 students and their driver were taken to hospitals after a school bus collided with a truck on Long Island. None of the injuries is considered serious.
The wreck occurred around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Middle Island. The bus was from the Longwood School District. School district officials and the bus company haven’t returned phone calls seeking comment.
Police say the students were involved in an after-school activity, but they are unsure what it was. The victims’ names have not been released.
The front end of the truck was badly damaged, and many of the bus’ windows were smashed. The truck driver also has been hospitalized.
A police officer was hit by a car while directing traffic surrounding the accident, suffering a serious but not life-threatening back injury. The car’s driver was not charged with any crime.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Pa. boy’s death during horseplay is ruled homicide
Date: 1/27/2009
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A popular 12-year-old boy was struck and killed by a bus in front of his middle school as he apparently horsed around with friends before class, and officials have ruled the death a homicide.
Dakota Galusha had just been dropped off at Northampton Middle School by his mother Monday morning and was walking to the entrance with three or four friends when he fell under the rear wheels of a passing bus, said Northampton School District Superintendent Linda Firestone.
She said it appears Dakota and his friends were jostling one another, something she called “a natural interaction with middle school students.”
“I have no evidence of intentional pushing of the student at all, at this point,” she said Tuesday. “There may be pushing, but I don’t know that there was a plot to harm.”
Galusha died a short time after being hit. The Lehigh County coroner’s office ruled his death a homicide after an autopsy.
A homicide ruling does not necessarily mean a criminal act occurred. The decision to file charges rests with Northampton County prosecutors, and District Attorney John Morganelli did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday.
First Deputy Coroner Paul Hoffman said Tuesday that interaction between Dakota and another student caused the boy’s death. He would not be more specific but said that if Dakota had simply slipped by himself, his death would have been ruled an accident.
“There was an incident. I don’t know what you want to term that, whether it was horseplay or fooling around,” he said.
A spokesman for Dakota’s parents, Kendall and Dina Galusha, said the family believes his death was accidental and did not wish to press charges.
Police were interviewing witnesses Tuesday. Classes were canceled Monday at the 950-student school north of Allentown, although many students stayed to receive counseling.
Dakota, who went by the nickname “Kota,” played baseball, football and basketball and also liked to snowboard. He was a staunch New York Giants fan.
“He was fun; he talked a lot,” 13-year-old Giovanna Dematteo, whose father was Dakota’s football coach, told The Morning Call of Allentown.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A popular 12-year-old boy was struck and killed by a bus in front of his middle school as he apparently horsed around with friends before class, and officials have ruled the death a homicide.
Dakota Galusha had just been dropped off at Northampton Middle School by his mother Monday morning and was walking to the entrance with three or four friends when he fell under the rear wheels of a passing bus, said Northampton School District Superintendent Linda Firestone.
She said it appears Dakota and his friends were jostling one another, something she called “a natural interaction with middle school students.”
“I have no evidence of intentional pushing of the student at all, at this point,” she said Tuesday. “There may be pushing, but I don’t know that there was a plot to harm.”
Galusha died a short time after being hit. The Lehigh County coroner’s office ruled his death a homicide after an autopsy.
A homicide ruling does not necessarily mean a criminal act occurred. The decision to file charges rests with Northampton County prosecutors, and District Attorney John Morganelli did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday.
First Deputy Coroner Paul Hoffman said Tuesday that interaction between Dakota and another student caused the boy’s death. He would not be more specific but said that if Dakota had simply slipped by himself, his death would have been ruled an accident.
“There was an incident. I don’t know what you want to term that, whether it was horseplay or fooling around,” he said.
A spokesman for Dakota’s parents, Kendall and Dina Galusha, said the family believes his death was accidental and did not wish to press charges.
Police were interviewing witnesses Tuesday. Classes were canceled Monday at the 950-student school north of Allentown, although many students stayed to receive counseling.
Dakota, who went by the nickname “Kota,” played baseball, football and basketball and also liked to snowboard. He was a staunch New York Giants fan.
“He was fun; he talked a lot,” 13-year-old Giovanna Dematteo, whose father was Dakota’s football coach, told The Morning Call of Allentown.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
End of Route Inspections To Be Considered in IN
Date: 1/23/2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — School bus drivers would have to do end-of-route inspections — to make sure no child is still aboard — under a bill endorsed by a state Senate committee. The bill would require drivers to inspect each seat or face up to a $500 fine. Three South Bend students were left on school buses last year, and this month it happened to a 4-year-old in Richmond.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — School bus drivers would have to do end-of-route inspections — to make sure no child is still aboard — under a bill endorsed by a state Senate committee. The bill would require drivers to inspect each seat or face up to a $500 fine. Three South Bend students were left on school buses last year, and this month it happened to a 4-year-old in Richmond.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Trial Lawyer Group Challenges Midnight Bus Regulation
The American Association of Justice, (AAJ) the national trial lawyer group that I play a brain injury leadership role in, has taken a strong stance to prevent last minute regulatory abuse by the Bush Administration. One of the worst aspects of the last days of the Bush Administration is there last days efforts to protect corporate wrongdoers from just claims from those injured by their products. The below press release from AAJ explains the nature of the challenge to such regulations.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://subtlebraininjury.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com
http://vestibulardisorder.com
http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
g@gordonjohnson.com
800-992-9447
©Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. 2008
AAJ Challenges NHTSA’s School Bus Safety Rule; Anticipates Long-Delayed Roof Crush Standard Next Week Preemption Clause in Rule Could Grant Vehicle Manufacturers Blanket Immunity from Lawsuits
Washington, DC — A final rule put forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) doesn’t go far enough to curb injuries associated with the nearly 2,000 school bus accidents each year, according to the American Association for Justice (AAJ). The association will file a petition for reconsideration with NHTSA tomorrow, challenging the agency’s final rule on school bus safety.
NHTSA’s final rule requires seatbelts for small school buses but only recommends seatbelts for larger school buses, fearing adding seatbelts on the larger vehicles would limit capacity and be cost prohibitive. Larger buses will be required to increase the seat back height four inches, just a fraction of the cost estimated for adding seat belts. The rule also includes preemption language that attempts to grant blanket immunity to the manufacturing industry that makes buses and their parts. The language would make it difficult to seek restitution through the civil justice system for injuries and fatalities associated with school bus accidents according to AAJ.
“NHTSA continues to allow corporate responsibility to take a back seat to children’s safety,” said AAJ President Les Weisbrod. “There is no reason to include preemption language that attempts to limit consumers’ civil justice rights in a rule about school bus safety except to give corporations yet another handout. Our children’s safety should be a first priority in school bus standards, instead NHTSA included an escape clause for corporate responsibility.”
Next week NHTSA is expected to release a final rule on roof crush resistance standards after years of study and delay. The current standard has been in effect since 1973, well before SUVs, prone to rollovers, were a popular consumer transportation option.
NHTSA was required to deliver a new roof crush standard to Congress by July 1, 2008, but was ordered by Congress to strengthen their proposed rule because it did not significantly reduce loss of life and prevent injury. NHTSA asked for an extension until December 15, 2008.
The timing is significant, because new Administrations generally seek to stay any final rules that have been put forth 60 days prior to the start of the term. The Bush administration had asked all final rules be complete by Nov. 1, 2008. A final rule put out December 15, 2008, could be subject to such a stay.
“On their way out the door, the Bush bureaucrats, continue to do all they can to try to take away people’s rights to access the civil justice system,” added Weisbrod. “We have seen this time and time again—school bus safety, seat belts, drugs and medical devices—the Administration thinks corporations can do no harm.”
As the world’s largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org/.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://subtlebraininjury.com
http://thelegaltimes.net
http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com
http://vestibulardisorder.com
http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
g@gordonjohnson.com
800-992-9447
©Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. 2008
AAJ Challenges NHTSA’s School Bus Safety Rule; Anticipates Long-Delayed Roof Crush Standard Next Week Preemption Clause in Rule Could Grant Vehicle Manufacturers Blanket Immunity from Lawsuits
Washington, DC — A final rule put forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) doesn’t go far enough to curb injuries associated with the nearly 2,000 school bus accidents each year, according to the American Association for Justice (AAJ). The association will file a petition for reconsideration with NHTSA tomorrow, challenging the agency’s final rule on school bus safety.
NHTSA’s final rule requires seatbelts for small school buses but only recommends seatbelts for larger school buses, fearing adding seatbelts on the larger vehicles would limit capacity and be cost prohibitive. Larger buses will be required to increase the seat back height four inches, just a fraction of the cost estimated for adding seat belts. The rule also includes preemption language that attempts to grant blanket immunity to the manufacturing industry that makes buses and their parts. The language would make it difficult to seek restitution through the civil justice system for injuries and fatalities associated with school bus accidents according to AAJ.
“NHTSA continues to allow corporate responsibility to take a back seat to children’s safety,” said AAJ President Les Weisbrod. “There is no reason to include preemption language that attempts to limit consumers’ civil justice rights in a rule about school bus safety except to give corporations yet another handout. Our children’s safety should be a first priority in school bus standards, instead NHTSA included an escape clause for corporate responsibility.”
Next week NHTSA is expected to release a final rule on roof crush resistance standards after years of study and delay. The current standard has been in effect since 1973, well before SUVs, prone to rollovers, were a popular consumer transportation option.
NHTSA was required to deliver a new roof crush standard to Congress by July 1, 2008, but was ordered by Congress to strengthen their proposed rule because it did not significantly reduce loss of life and prevent injury. NHTSA asked for an extension until December 15, 2008.
The timing is significant, because new Administrations generally seek to stay any final rules that have been put forth 60 days prior to the start of the term. The Bush administration had asked all final rules be complete by Nov. 1, 2008. A final rule put out December 15, 2008, could be subject to such a stay.
“On their way out the door, the Bush bureaucrats, continue to do all they can to try to take away people’s rights to access the civil justice system,” added Weisbrod. “We have seen this time and time again—school bus safety, seat belts, drugs and medical devices—the Administration thinks corporations can do no harm.”
As the world’s largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org/.