New York Common Causes of Bus Accidents
A common causes of bus accidents attorney in New York should be your first phone call after you've been hurt. The bus company or their insurance carrier may contact you directly and ask you to sign agreements or to accept an early settlement. This is often done to minimize their liability. Being exposed to future litigation, especially that handled by a New York common causes of bus accidents lawyer, could make them nervous about their potential losses. This is why it is in their best interests to settle outside of court as soon as possible.
However, a settlement outside of court in your case is not the best solution. You need an investigation into what possibly caused the accident and the liable parties who could be held accountable in court. Because there are no seatbelts on buses and because of the size and weight of a bus, the injuries sustained in such an accident can be severe.
You need to identify who is liable for causing the accident in the first place. It may be hard for you to tell this on your own, particularly if you're not paying attention to the bus or surrounding vehicles at the time of the incident. This is why you need a New York common causes of bus accidents attorney to be brought onto the case as soon as possible to carry out an investigation. A lawyer who has handled investigations like this before will be highly knowledgeable about your rights and what you need to do to proceed.
Although the police at the scene of the incident will look for any factors that could have contributed to the cause of the accident and identifying whether or not the bus company or the driver was to blame, this is not a full investigation. There may be issues such as improper maintenance that cannot be seen at the scene of the accident itself. Furthermore, you cannot always count on police officers to do everything possible to protect you.
It is their job to investigate the scene of the accident but they might miss details that could ultimately be instrumental in your personal injury lawsuit. Unfortunately, many of the most common causes of bus accidents across New York have to do with negligent driving.
It is the responsibility of the driver as well as the company hiring him or her to ensure that the bus is safe by carrying out proper maintenance and to engage in appropriate hiring and training procedures that make safety of the passengers as the utmost priority. in many cases, negligent driving could be used to illustrate the driver or the company's responsibility for the payment of damages in a lawsuit. Some of the most common causes of bus accidents in New York include:
- Inappropriately maintained buses
- Overloading the capacity of the bus
- A driver who is not properly trained
- Driving under the influence
- Fatigued driving
Any one of these issues could lead to a horrific accident with significant injuries or fatalities. Another increasingly common aspect contributing to common causes of bus accidents is distracted driving, such as using the phone while driving the bus, texting or eating food. It is illegal to use any type of handheld device while on the road and these rules certainly do apply to bus drivers. However, if you find yourself in the position of having to fight back because of the serious injuries you've sustained in a critical bus accident, you deserve to have a lawyer who will work hard on your behalf. When the driver is to blame for the accident, this can get very confusing because many buses are operated and owned by a government entity. If you have a claim against the NYC transportation authority, you must take action as soon as possible. You need a lawyer on hand to help.