No one ever said that riding a school bus was a pleasant experience. Once you arrive at school, the teachers and hall monitors are there, casting sidelong glances that usually prevent the school bullies from showing their worst side, but on the bus, it is open season on wimps and weird kids, because the only adult present is the bus driver, who is understandably focusing his or her attention on the road. Heaven help you if you try to do your homework on the bus; it is such a bumpy ride that your pencil inevitably makes stray marks on the paper. That kid who gets carsick on every bus ride inevitably sits near you.
These are just the mundane annoyances of riding the school bus; once you are old enough to have a driver’s license, you can look back on your school bus riding days as a character-building experience, even if it is not one you are eager to repeat. No one expects school bus drivers to make egregious driving mistakes. If they do, and if students get injured as a result, the injured students have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. If you got injured in a traffic accident while you were a passenger on a school bus, contact a Santa Fe motor vehicle accidents and car accidents lawyer.
School Charter Bus Was Trying to Pass a Slow-Moving Car on a Wet Road
In October 2022, a charter bus was transporting students on Highway 70, taking them to a school field trip. On the bus were 25 middle school students, two teachers, and the bus driver. It was raining, and the roads were wet. A car in the right lane, where the bus was driving, was moving slowly and even stopped completely for a while; this is understandable when driving in heavy rain, and all vehicles should drive slower than the speed limit when the rain is heavy enough to limit visibility.
The bus driver attempted to pass the slow-moving car, and in so doing, the driver lost control of the bus. The bus overturned, landing on its right side, causing the passengers to be ejected from their seats and a few of them to be ejected from the bus. The two most seriously injured students and their parents sued. A boy received a $750,000 settlement as compensation for serious injuries which news reports did not describe. A girl sued after sustaining a concussion and a shoulder injury that still required treatment more than two years after the accident. As of late 2024, her case was still pending. The defendants in the lawsuit were the Roswell Independent School District and the bus company that owned the bus involved in the accident.
Contact Slate Stern About Bus Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured as a result of bus accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
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Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash