Car Accidents With a Bus

Massachusetts Bus and Car Accident Lawyers

There are many factors that determine how “serious” a car accident is. This can include speed, direction, and the angle of the collision. However, there is one factor that is often left out: the size of the vehicles.

Large Bus vs. Small Car

Most of us cringe when we think about learning physics in high school. But, it’s important to remember in the context of a collision. If a large vehicle hits you, you’ll likely be at a greater risk for injury than if a small vehicle hits you. While many people think of this in terms of being hit by a large SUV, it can’t be forgotten that this issue is most important when a passenger car, pickup truck, or an SUV is hit by a bus.

No matter how big your car is, it’s much smaller than a bus. Whether the bus is a commuter bus owned by a transit authority or a school bus driving children. For example, a Toyota Camry can weigh up to 3,500 pounds, but a typical school bus can weigh up to 30,000.00 pounds, almost 8 times as large. Even a larger SUV, such as a Jeep Grand Cherokee, only weighs 5,000.00 pounds, which is ⅙ of the weight of the bus.

Car Safety Mechanisms

Another issue that arises with collisions between buses and passenger vehicles is that these smaller vehicles were not built with these collisions in mind. Buses are high enough off the ground that many of the parts of your vehicle that were specifically designed to absorb an impact are bypassed. Instead, the majority of the force is instead applied to the passenger compartment, which is where you and your passengers are. In other words, a bumper doesn’t get an opportunity to do its job when the vehicle that hits it is too high off the ground.

Injured Bus Passengers

One might think that because a bus is so big, it’s passengers are immune to the consequences of these collisions. Of course, that’s not true. Part of the reason is that bus passengers often don’t have the same safety mechanisms that people in passenger vehicles have. First, bus passengers might not even have a seat. Even if a passenger does have a seat, it’s unlikely that there is a seat belt available. Factors such as these put bus passengers at a greater risk for injury, even when collisions are at slow or moderate speeds.

Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers

At Marcotte Law Firm, we have decades of experience representing people who were involved in collisions between buses and cars. We understand the complex nature of these collisions, which is especially true when the large buses are owned by government or quasi-governmental agencies. What would otherwise be a routine case can be made much more difficult when large bus companies or the government is involved.

If you or a loved one were injured in one of these collisions, it doesn’t matter if you were in the car or on the bus. You deserve compensation for your injuries. Call or email the experienced Car and Bus Accident Attorneys at Marcotte Law Firm for a free, no obligation consultation.