As a concerned parent in New York City, it is normal for you to entrust your child’s school-bus with the cardinal responsibility of safely transporting your child to and from school every week day.
Thus, when that school bus driver is involved in a serious traffic accident involving other vehicles, pedestrians, and the bus students, your trust suddenly comes crashing down! You may actually get to know that your son or daughter has been injured hours later, when the school or hospital authorities or both contact you at home through an emergency phone call.
As New York City is fairly crowded and deals with unpredictable traffic conditions throughout the busy week, the school-bus drivers operating within city limits are expected to be adequately trained and licensed to drive city school buses.
What are some probable causes of school students getting hurt?
Though traffic accidents involving school buses can have a variety of reasons and consequences, some of the common reasons behind school-bus students getting hurt are:
- The school-bus driver was driving irresponsibly, and sudden stops and starts can cause bus students to fall and get seriously hurt by sharp objects inside the bus.
- The school bus has not been maintained properly, so a brake failure or a slippery road condition causes an accident hurting several students seated inside the bus.
- The bus driver stops to offload some students and suddenly some other rash driver on the road fails to stop in front of a stopped school bus causing serious injuries to one or more students on the road.
- The school bus is involved in a multi-vehicle traffic accident, and several bus passengers including students are hurt.
How can you make personal injury claims to protect your child?
As soon as you receive the news of your child’s injury through a school-bus accident, you should visit the child to check on the current medical condition, collect detailed reports of the accident, hospital admission, treatment procedures, medication, and any other important detail pertaining to the accident and later developments. Thereafter, you should consult a personal injury law firm. The law firm may request the following documents to assess the merits of the personal injury case:
- Name and location of your child’s school.
- Location and details of the accident involving the child’s school bus including complete police reports.
- The details of all responsible parties involved in that accident, such as school-bus driver, another vehicle driver, one or more pedestrians, a faulty traffic light, and so on.
- The family personal injury insurance details, if your child is covered by such a policy.
- The details of the hospital where your child is admitted with details of the treatment procedures. Periodically, you may be asked to submit medical and treatment reports, until your child recovers and gets discharged from the hospital.
How do personal injury law firms assess school-bus accident cases?
Once the personal injury law firm acquires all the necessary documents, photos, x-rays, and reports for their initial analysis of the case, they are likely to investigate whether:
- Any sudden stop or crash during the accident caused your child’s injury.
- Any window, door, stairway, or any other bus equipment contributed to your child’s injury.
- Your child is only entitled to personal injury claims due to collision from your insurance firm, or also to claims made to the school district due to bodily damage done by the school-bus driver’s negligent driving.
- The child is entitled to additional claims such as loss of school days, long-term impairments, ongoing medical treatments, and so on.
If your child has been injured in a school-bus accident in New York City, contact an experienced personal injury law firm like Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff, & Wolff of RMFW Law by calling 212-344-1000. The first meeting is free.
We at RMFW have won millions of dollars for past clients. You can be on this fantastic list if you give us a call. If your case is genuine you want us on your side. Please give us a shot at 212-344-1000. We know the system and we know what it takes to win a case like this.