A week ago yesterday our Charleston personal injury lawyers mentioned a scary drunk driving accident in which the inebriated driver collided with a school bus before flipping his truck off the road. Fortunately, in that incident, none of the children were injured as a result of the carelessness of the drunk individual.
But, it seems school bus accidents are not only happening in the Charleston area, while browsing internet news this morning the experienced legal team at Howell Law came across two other instances of car accidents involving school buses. Sadly, a death and numerous injuries were suffered.
Earlier this week, on Monday, a Kentucky school bus overturned when returning 30 first and second graders and a handful of adults from a field trip, according to Kentucky State Police. Officials reported that the bus driver swerved to miss a deer and overcorrected the vehicle, causing the fatal auto accident.
One of the students onboard was pronounced dead on the scene, while twelve other students were rushed to the Western Baptist Hospital for treatment. Injuries included bumps, bruises, and fractures, none of the injuries appeared to be serious or life-threatening. One of the adult chaperones on the bus was also taken to Western Baptist, another chaperone and the bus driver were airlifted to separate hospitals, there were no details as to the extent of their injuries or current condition.
State Police are continuing to investigate this unfortunate instance of child injury and death.
The other school bus accident happened in Chicago, and also occurred during a field trip. However, this accident involved two school buses en route to their destination, Northwestern University. After leaving Rowe Elementary School, around 11:15 a.m., the bus driver was briefly distracted and rear-ended another bus from the school, according to officials.
Responding police officers speculate that the driver had been looking into his rear view mirror at the time of the accident, causing the bus to collide with the one in front of it. In total there were 50 students on the buses, 24 in the distracted driver’s bus, and 26 in the other.
Emergency crews rushed 20 of the students to three area hospitals. Chest, neck, and lower back injuries were sustained by the students, according to reports. Thankfully, none of these injuries were considered life-threatening or severe. Those students that were uninjured in the accident were transported to Northwestern and enjoy their field trip.