Pedestrian Bus Accidents Occuring More Frequently
The latest news of a TriMet bus accident that killed two young women and injured three others, sheds light on the increasing rates of bus accidents that injure pedestrians. As a Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer, I have seen an increase in the frequency of bus accidents involving pedestrians over the last few years. In this particular instance, the bus driver struck the pedestrians while making a left-hand turn. Even though the pedestrians had the right-of-way to cross the street, they ended up pinned underneath the Municipal bus.
So far, reports have shown that bus driver Sandy Day was not talking on her cell phone, text messaging, intoxicated, under the influence of drugs, tired or inexperienced. More than likely, the driver had difficulty seeing the pedestrians since it was late at night and they may have been in her blind spot. The father of one of the victims made a statement saying, "These bus drivers just got to pay attention," said Sale. " Too many people are getting in accidents."
Only a week ago, a San Francisco man died after being pinned between two Municipal Railway buses. A Utah woman is luckily to be alive after a turning bus struck her in a crosswalk last summer. She suffered life-threatening injuries, including brain damage, and her life will never be the same again. These tragic stories are becoming all too common. In our firm, Tacoma personal injury lawyers have fought for the rights of many pedestrian victims. Sadly, many of these accidents could have been avoided if bus drivers were more cautious of pedestrians, and if pedestrians were more aware of the dangers presented by buses and their blind spots.
In our opinion, there's many changes that should be implemented to avoid accidents like this from happening in the future. One of the best things we can do is to make buses and other vehicles have a protected left hand turn signal so that they must wait for the green-arrow before turning. Also, passing a law that buses that prevents buses from initiating a right-hand turn on a red light would help. Both of these ideas would keep buses from interfering with pedestrians who have the right-of-way to cross the street on a green light. A simple and inexpensive fix would be to implement signage at crosswalks on bus routes that serve to educate pedestrians of the dangers of turning buses.
California State uses technology that notifies pedestrians when a bus approaches. To avoid accidents resulting from pedestrians stepping into the street to get the attention of approaching buses, many cities are starting to adopt blinking lights that signal to bus drivers that people are waiting. Improving mirror placement on the sides of buses will help drivers to recognize when pedestrians are located in their blind spots. Right convex mirrors allow drivers to view their entire front bumper which alleviates head-on collisions while audible turn signals notify pedestrians when a bus is turning.
At the Law Offices of Kirk Bernard, we hope that when all these ideas are combined, they can drastically reduce the incidence of bus accidents involving pedestrians. While they won't bring back the loved ones that have already been lost, these practices can prevent more people from becoming victims of these horrific accidents in the future.