School Bus Crashes: What To Know

For nine months out of the year, your child rides the school bus twice a day, five days a week. Safety for children not only in school, but on the way to school, should be of the utmost priority. Any accidents involving school buses can cause parent-wide panic and can also prompt the need to blame and point fingers at the school, the bus driver, other vehicle drivers, etc.

Generally when a school bus ends up in an accident, it can be blamed on negligence by the other drivers on the road. In the state of the Illinois, there are many bus-related driving laws to protect children being transported to school. For example, drivers are supposed to stop when they are behind a bus that is letting children on or off the bus. School buses are required to stop at railroad tracks for extra safety measures. Every precaution should be taken around school buses, especially since children are not required to wear seatbelts on them.

When another driver is negligent and causes a crash, you as a parent can claim compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, etc. You will want to hire a personal injury lawyer such as Harvey Walner & Associates in order to look out for your child’s interests when you submit these claims to the at-fault driver’s insurance company.

If the accident was caused by the bus driver, then the compensation will most likely come from the school district. The alternative is that the school bus company was responsible and therefore is required to provide compensation. Any contractual work between a school district and a bus company should include documents detailing responsibility roles and your lawyer can then decide who to contact about compensation. The school should have an insurance policy that can cover any medical expenses. However, if you are looking for further compensation, it will be more challenging. This would be a far more tedious process than recovering damages from a citizen, because government entities like school districts will have solid legal representation and can use delay tactics to force a long, expensive lawsuit.

If your child was in a school bus-related incident and you’re looking for legal representation, start your free consultation with us today.