Accidents involving buses of all types occur in communities throughout the nation, including Kansas City, Missouri, on a regular basis. Sometimes the buses involved are school buses in the process of transporting children either to or from school. As readers of this blog may be aware, we wrote about once such Missouri bus accident last month. While these collisions often only result in minor injuries, other times, there are fatalities. This outcome may be avoided through proper training.
Recent bus accidents in the state have prompted at least one community to revisit that training. The bus company that transports students sin the St. Joseph School District takes safety seriously and has a position specifically focused on safety. That Safety Director indicated that when a crash occurs in either Missouri or a neighboring state, the incident can be used as a training tool at one of the safety meetings that drivers in the school district are required to attend.
Drivers are not the only bus occupants that can benefit from safety training. The students who populate these buses receive training twice a year in St. Joseph as well. That safety training focuses not so much on how to avoid a crash, but rather on what to do after one occurs. Lives could be saved by students knowing and properly executing an evacuation. For this reason, students participate in evacuation drills as a part of the training.
Something that occupants of a bus involved in a bus accident may decide to do is pursue a civil lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit, which seeks to hold those responsible for the accident occurring, accountable, could provide individual injured in such a crash the financial damages needed to help cover accident related bills.
Source: St. Joe Channel, “Recent School Bus Accident Reminds Local Bus Company On Importance Of Bus Safety,” Christina Watkins, Nov. 1, 2013