Accident Between Pickup and School Bus Causes Minor Injury
A school bus accident that happened in Sacramento County on September 30 resulted in minor injuries. The collision occurred around 7:23 a.m. at the intersection of Gerber Road and Bar Du Lane in the Vineyard area. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) police report said the accident happened when a Toyota Tundra and the school bus collided, blocking both lanes of Gerber Road.
Driver Extricated by Rescue Personnel After Accident
Although the airbags in the pickup were deployed, the male driver was trapped in their vehicle. Emergency responders with the Sacramento Fire Department were called to the scene to extricate the driver. Information was not provided on whether that person was transported to a hospital or whether there were students on the school bus at the time of the accident. The CHP is investigating how the collision occurred.
Accident Statistics
According to the National Safety Council, 109 people died in collisions involving school buses in 2019. Between 2010 and 2019, almost 70 percent of the people who died in a school bus accident were in other vehicles. Passengers in school buses accounted for 6 percent of the fatalities, while others were pedal cyclists, pedestrians, or bus drivers. That’s an amazing safety record considering there are more than 470,000 school buses being utilized in the country.
However, many thousands of children are injured each year in school bus crashes. Some of the most common causes for an accident involving a school bus include:
- Accidents with children who are boarding or exiting a bus: Most of these injuries and fatalities are caused by the school bus itself or a passing motorist who is ignoring the lowered speed limit in a school zone.
- Head-on and rear-end crashes: When a school bus is struck in the front or rear, it can throw the children out of their seats, especially since most buses are not equipped with safety belts or harnesses. Since 2005, California has mandated three-point seat belts for all new school buses.
- Evacuation drills are not conducted: When a school bus is involved in a collision, it may catch fire or present another imminent hazard to the children on board. Many school districts neglect to carry out evacuation drills from a school bus, which could help save lives and avoid further serious injuries following a collision.
Driver Safety Tips Around a School Bus
There are a number of ways a driver can help ensure the safety of children in and around a school or transportation bus to prevent an accident. These tips include:
- Be cautious when around children walking or riding their bicycles, especially near a school, because they may not be thinking about safety and can dart out in front of you.
- Always slow down when children are in the area and obey speed limits near schools.
- When a school bus is stopped, flashing its yellow lights and has the arm extended, stop until it’s safe to go again.
- Children who are hurrying to catch their school bus may not watch for oncoming vehicles, and the drivers need to watch out for this.
Sacramento School Bus Accident Lawyer
My name is Ed Smith, and I’m a Sacramento school bus accident lawyer. If you or your child were injured in a school bus accident, you may be able to recover compensation, which pays for the medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Contact us at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400. You can also reach us online.
Since 1982, my injury lawyer team and I at AutoAccident.com have assisted many Northern Californians in getting the compensation they deserve in all varieties of traffic accidents, government claims, wrongful deaths, and others.
Discover helpful information about our law firm at the links that follow:
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Photo attribution: Photo by Maximilian Simson on Unsplash
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