Bus Accidents

A bus is defined as any vehicle designed primarily to transport nine or more passengers, including the driver. Due to how these vehicles are designed, they rarely get into accidents. When they do, however, their accidents tend to be severe, including fatalities.

If you or your loved one was injured in a bus accident in the South Bay area, our South Bay bus accident attorneys can help you get compensation for your injuries. This article discusses what you need to know about bus accidents, why you may be entitled to compensation and how our South Bay bus accident attorneys can help you recover compensation. 

Types of Buses That Travel California Roads

Different types of buses travel on California roads every day, such as coaches, school buses, transit buses, minibuses, shuttle buses and tour buses. 

• Coaches offer more comfort and space than other bus types and can carry passengers' luggage, so they are used to travel long distances.

• School buses, as the name implies, carry students to and from schools. 

• Transit buses are also known as hybrid buses, and they operate within towns and cities. Most of them have fuel and electric engines and can carry a large number of passengers.

• Minibuses are mini-coaches and carry a maximum of twenty-eight people. They can also travel long distances.

• Shuttle buses typically operate in places where there are many people, such as airports, and make a lot of stops to collect and drop passengers.

• Tour buses, as the name implies, are used for city sightseeing and can be custom-made without roofs or have their double-decker roofs removed.

Bus Accident Statistics in California 

From 2018 to 2019, 232 buses were involved in fatal crashes. Of these, 84 were school buses, 15 were intercity buses, and 78 were transit buses. 

Between 2007 and 2016, an average of 1,282 people died due to school-bus-related crashes. 70% of the people involved in these accidents were occupants of other vehicles involved in the accidents.

Intercity buses accounted for 23% of these accidents, school buses accounted for 40%, and transit buses accounted for 35% of the bus accidents recorded between 2007 and 2017. Of these, more than 50 % of the injuries sustained were to the head.

Why You May Be Entitled to Compensation in a California Bus Accident

Per California Civil Code section 2103, “A carrier of persons for reward must give to passengers all such accommodations as are usual and reasonable, and must treat them with civility, and give them a reasonable degree of attention.”

Therefore, all the buses we mentioned above fall under the purview of this piece of legislation. As a result, if you ride in any of them, they owe you a duty of care to ensure that you are treated civilly and come to no harm while being served by them.

So if you sustain injuries while riding in any of these duties, the law deems that they have breached their duty of care towards you and are liable for your injuries. This liability means that they must compensate you for your injuries.

However, bus accidents often involve other vehicles, and the passengers in such vehicles also sustain injuries. If this applies to you, you may be entitled to claim compensation if the other driver was at fault. 

Even if you were partly to blame for the accident, you can still make a claim. This is because California has a comparative fault law that allows you to get compensated even if the accident was partly your fault. Per this law, the court will assign a percentage of fault to you and the other driver. Thus, your compensation will equal the percentage of fault assigned to the other driver. 

What a California Bus Accident Lawyer Can Do to Help

Bus accidents are traumatic, and their injuries are often severe, costing their victims a lot in terms of medical care for physical and psychological injuries, lost time at work, altered lifestyles, and much more.

It is bad enough that you have to suffer all of these losses and you should not also have to pay for them out-of-pocket. At Sullivan & Sullivan, we provide aggressive representation for victims of bus accidents and ensure that they get maximum compensation for their injuries. Our lawyers are experienced in representing bus accident victims and are committed to providing you with the best legal representation possible.