Posts Tagged ‘Dozen Students’
Teacher Killed in Accident with Charter Bus Carrying South Florida Students
May 2nd, 2013
Posted in Accident News
Tallahassee, FL- A collision between a charter bus and a passenger vehicle early Wednesday morning left a Tallahassee science teacher dead and over a dozen students injured.
The accident occurred on I-10 near Tallahassee just after 3 a.m. The teacher, 22 year-old Abby Fisher was traveling west on 1-10 when for some unknown reason she drifted into the eastbound lanes and collided head on with the charter bus, according to the Tallahassee News Press.com. Fishburn was pronounced dead on the scene.
A statement from Dolphin Transport, who owns the bus, said that 48 students were on the bus and at least 17 people including the bus driver sustained a range of injuries, mostly minor.
The bus driver, who has been identified as Johnny Brutus of Naples, will require foot surgery, but most of the injured students were released from the hospital Wednesday.
Dolphin Transport said the students were traveling from Pensacola to Collier after competing in a USA Skills Competition. Dolphin also said they would ensure that arrangements are made to get the students home safely.
Police closed 1-10 for several hours as they conducted their investigation. Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. James Shaw said they were conducting a blood test to determine of Fishburn was intoxicated at the time of the accident, adding that it was standard procedure in fatal accidents.
Fishburn just began her job as a science teacher at Deerlake Middle School after graduating from Florida State University.
It is possible that Fishburn was intoxicated, but another likely scenario is that she may have fallen asleep at the wheel. Fatigued driving is surprisingly common as well as very dangerous.
Last year a charter bus driver, Ophadell Williams, was carrying passengers from a casino in Connecticut back to Chinatown when he lost control of the bus killing 15 people and injuring 18.
Witnesses on the bus said Williams was driving erratically prior to the accident, leading them to believe he was exhausted. The black box on the bus showed that Williams didn’t even hit the brakes prior to colliding with a highway sign that sheared the top of the bus, flinging passengers around the cabin and onto the roadway.
Some of the victims lost limbs and became permanently disabled.
During a criminal trial where Williams was facing multiple charges of vehicle manslaughter, the prosecutor equated fatigued driving to drunk driving. Williams was ultimately acquitted of vehicle manslaughter, absolving him of any criminal negligence,
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 100,000 reported traffic crashes are caused by drowsy drivers. Those crashes result in $12.5 billion in annual costs, 170,000 personal injuries and an estimated 1,500 deaths.
A 2001 study conducted by the National Safety Foundation, found that at least 27 percent of adults over the age of 18 admitted to drowsy driving at least once in a month’s time. Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk or distracted driving, so drivers who are too tired to keep their eyes open should pull over and save theirs or another person’s life.
Chicago-area School Bus Accident Leaves One Person Dead Children Injured
April 5th, 2013
Posted in Accident News
Chicago, IL- An early morning accident involving a school bus and two other vehicles in Wadsworth, a suburb of Chicago, left one adult dead and over two dozen students injured.
The accident occurred just after 8 a.m. this morning on Route 173 when the school bus carrying 35 students to the Newport Elementary collided with a Jeep Wrangler and a Jeep Cherokee.
The bus, according to the Chicago Tribune may have run a red light, violently slamming into the Jeep Wrangler, which was traveling southbound. Lake County Sherriff Mark Curran said the accident was “close to a T-bone,” adding that the Jeep Cherokee was also hit “very hard.”
The impact of the crash caused the bus to spin out of control; it then struck the Jeep Cherokee then overturned shattering the windows and tossing the children around the bus.
When emergency officials arrived the children had already exited the bus thought the back emergency door. Curran said of accident, “It’s a bad scene,” and described many of the children as “walking wounded,” the Tribune reported.
Twenty-five of the children were loaded on another bus and taken to the Connell Medical Center in Libertyville. Most of their injuries were minor and many of the students were released.
Twelve of the students were sent to local hospitals by ambulance for treatment of more serious injuries, though none of were life-threatening. One girl suffers from a skull fracture and was listed in fair condition.
“Everybody’s alive on the school bus, and obviously we want to pray for the children and hope everybody is fine,” Curran said.
The female school bus driver and the two people in the Jeep Cherokee were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
The bus driver is cooperating with authorities and will have to undergo drug and alcohol screening as required by law following a fatal accident.
The Jeep Wrangler sustained major damage; the hood was crushed and the pushed into the front seat. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, the Daily Herald reported.
Police closed Route 173 for a couple of hours so they could conduct their investigation, but have not yet determined the cause of the accident.
According the Tribune one witness told police the school bus driver ran a red light, that police have not officially released the cause of the accident.
Curran said the high seat backs on the bus helped protect the children from serious injury.
Despite the fact that at least a few tragic bus accidents have occurred across the country so far this year, buses have a lower accident rate than passenger vehicles. But bus crashes often end with more injuries simply because they have more passengers.
According to 2009 data from the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, there were 212 fatal bus accidents in comparison to 18,315 fatal collisions involving passenger cars. Additionally, the FMCA estimates that 15 out every 19 bus crashes can be attributed to driver error or distractions.
Over a Dozen Students Injured in Illinois Bus Crash
May 15th, 2012
Posted in Accident News
ILLINOIS – Over a dozen middle school students were injured following a bus collision on Monday afternoon.
A bus transporting 33 sixth-grade students from Grantfork Upper Elementary School in the Highland School District crashed into the rear of a semi while on the way back from a field trip to Springfield, Illinois.
Over a dozen students and the bus driver were injured as a result of the crash, which took place just after 4:30 p.m. on southbound Interstate 55, roughly five miles north of Litchfield.
Two buses transporting fifth and sixth-grade students had visited the state capitol, Lincoln home and museum and the old courthouse earlier that day and were on the way back to the school when the crash occurred.
The semi had either slowed or stopped for traffic in a construction zone when the bus rear-ended it.
One student, Jessica Davis, 12, of Alhambra, Illinois, had to be airlifted to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, where she was being treated for a broken femur. She has been listed in fair condition and expected to undergo surgery.
Being involved in an accident can be life-changing, even if no physical injuries were sustained
If you or a loved one have been involved in any type of personal injury incident in Illinois, seek the help of an accident lawyer right away.
Accident attorneys help the victims of a wide range of claims, including auto accidents, medical malpractice, slip and falls, and workplace injuries. Regardless of whose fault the incident was or the extent of the injuries, rest assured that your Illinois accident attorney will not rest until you are compensated for your pain and suffering.
Contact a team of accident lawyers in Illinois today to discuss your options and file a case.
