School Bus Driver With No License Kills Child, 7
A school bus driver without a valid commercial license struck and killed a child just feet away from his home. The family has since filed a lawsuit against several parties, including the school district. The bus driver was not cited for the incident and was not issued a ticket, according to authorities. He did not have a license to drive a bus, however.
Obviously, the district is scrambling to avoid liability, but in some cases, it’s smarter to throw the employee under the bus. The parents further contend that policies were violated when the boy crossed in front of the bus.
Police had previously reported that the boy was running alongside the bus and attempted to cut in front of him when he was struck. The buses are now dropping students off in front of their homes.
This is the second major lawsuit involving the death of a child by a school bus. The other, which was filed in Texas, alleges that the school bus driver ran over the child after he crossed in front of the bus in a blindspot. School buses are supposed to have extending arms that prevent children from passing in front of the bus in the blindspot where a child cannot be seen. The buses provided by this district did not have them.
Why does this keep happening?
This is the sort of thing that would happen all the time but for policies that we have in place to prevent it. For instance, a policy that demands that all children be dropped off in front of their home, would prevent a child from having to cross the street to get to their home. Unless the child lived on a one-way street, there would never be any reason for the child to cross in front of the bus. This eliminates 90% of the potential accidents that can be caused this way. Hence, why the policy is important.
In this case, you have a bus driver with CDL not following the rules.
Second, we have extending arms that prevent children from entering the blindspot of the bus in front when crossing in front of a bus. This should prevent the other 10% of accidents because the child will cross where the bus driver can see them. Unless the bus driver is not looking directly in front of them as they’re driving, the child would be safe.
So, unless something really weird happens, this is the sort of thing that should almost never happen. Because we have a means of preventing these problems, it falls on the liability of the employees and the company owners when a child is injured or killed. The policy is there to prevent that. The policy wasn’t followed. A child died as a result of that.
Talk to a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer Today
The Miami personal injury lawyers at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. help parents get justice for their children when they are injured by negligent caretakers. Call today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.
Source:
wgntv.com/news/north-suburbs/family-of-7-year-old-struck-killed-by-school-bus-in-park-forest-file-wrongful-death-lawsuit/
