Escambia school year off to rough start with seven bus crashes

On behalf of Terence Gross of Gross & Schuster, P.A. posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, September 15, 2011.

School bus manufacturers do everything they can to make the vehicles stand out. The buses are huge. They are bright yellow. They come equipped with stop signs. They are adorned with flashing lights. Yet, somehow, distracted drivers still plow into them.

There have been seven car accidents involving Escambia school buses so far this year, and the school season is quite young. According to school transportation officials, most or all of those crashes involved distracted drivers. Some of them paid more attention to their cellphones than the road. Three of the accidents were hit-and-run.

It sounds like common sense, and it is, but drivers need to watch out for school buses. They make frequent stops. Drivers will likely encounter the vehicles at some point during the day, and they need to keep an eye out for them.

One 62-year-old bus driver in the district, who has been carting children on school buses for 17 years, believes drivers are in a hurry. He thinks it shows in the way they drive. He believes drivers are more distracted than ever. According to the Pensacola News Journal, the bus driver is floored when other motorists say things like, “I did not see that bus” following an accident.

Generally, buses are still a safe way for children to be transported to and from school. No one has been injured in the seven accidents so far this year.

The veteran bus driver says the children’s safety has always been his first priority. According to the News Journal, he says simply, “That’s our future on those buses.”

Source: Pensacola News Journal, Seven bus wrecks in Escambia since school’s start Erin Kourkounis, Sept. 14, 2011