Now that summer is winding down and students have returned to school, Chicago drivers may see more school buses on the roads than they did in previous months. Making many stops and generally operating at low rates of speed, school buses can sometimes create distractions to drivers who are not accustom to encountering them on the streets.
A Chicago school bus was involved in a 4-vehicle car accident on Lake Shore Drive. It appears that the bus ran into a car that had stopped at a traffic light. The impact of the crash forced the car into the car stopped in front of it and then a police car ran into the back of the school bus. Though no adults were injured, 8 school-aged kids were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Multi-vehicle car accidents are not uncommon in the area but it is always scary when high occupancy vehicles like buses are involved. Though they are large in size, school buses generally do not have seatbelts to help protect their passengers from the effects of collisions. Because their riders are often unrestrained, injuries can occur even when the buses hit much smaller automobiles.
As the facts of this accident emerge more information may become available as to the cause of the crash. If the operator of the school bus was a negligent driver and created the dangerous situation that injured the kids, those victims may have legal claims for medical expenses and other damages against the driver, the bus owner and the school district for which it was operating.
Though none of the children’s injuries are believed to be serious, the outcome of this accident could have been much more devastating. School buses offer a great service to the families of school-aged children all across Chicago but can become dangerous when they are involved in automobile collisions.
Source: NBC 5 Chicago, “8 Kids Injured in School Bus Crash,” Sept. 14, 2013
