Know your legal options if your child is injured on a school bus.
Top 3 Causes of School Bus Injuries to Children in Texas and What to Do About It
Millions of children across Texas rely on the school bus to get them to and from school every day. While children are rarely injured on school buses, injuries do happen, and recent, scary accidents have parents concerned for their child’s safety.
If your child is injured in a school bus accident in Texas, you may have legal options to pursue compensation.
Most Common Causes of School Bus Injuries
6,000 school bus passengers were injured, and 8 were killed in accidents in 2022. While school bus transportation is still safer than riding in a personal vehicle or walking, accidents still happen. The top three reasons children were injured in school bus accidents include:
Loading/Unloading Pedestrian Accidents
Children are incredibly vulnerable while loading on or getting off the bus. There are special laws in place to prevent this from happening, but reckless drivers still cause child pedestrian accidents each year.
Between 2013 and 2022, 16% of those killed in school bus accidents were pedestrians.
School Bus Accidents
There were 2,523 crashes involving Texas school buses in 2023. In those accidents, 11 people were killed, and 63 sustained serious injuries.
Children can be seriously injured or killed in a Texas school bus accident. Just this year, a four-year-old boy was killed, and 52 people were injured in a school bus accident in Bastrop. Nearly a month later, a road rage incident caused a major accident with a Pre-K 4 school bus in San Antonio.
Nearly 10,000 school bus passengers were injured in school bus accidents between 2021 and 2022 alone.
Neglect
Very young children can die or suffer permanent brain injuries due to bus driver neglect.
Small children can be very quiet and are sometimes missed by inattentive bus drivers. This causes the child to be left unattended in a hot or extremely cold bus, unable to escape.
If a child is left in a bus for just 20 minutes, they could potentially develop heat stroke or hypothermia that could leave them with permanent brain and internal organ damage.
What to Do If Your Child is Injured on a Texas School Bus
If your child is injured in a school-bus-related accident, follow these steps:
- Immediately Seek Medical Attention — Even if you don’t think your child is very hurt, take them to a doctor ASAP. Some injuries are not immediately apparent, and children can have a hard time telling you if something is wrong.
- Document the Injuries — Take photos of any visible injuries, as well as detailed notes about how they got them.
- Talk to Witnesses — Talk to your child about what happened, and record conversations with other witnesses to the incident.
- Check for Cameras — Make a note of any cameras that may have caught the incident, either in the bus or surrounding area.
- Keep Records — Gather and keep police reports, medical documents, and any other documents you may have related to the accident.
As soon as you are able, call an attorney about your child’s school bus injuries. Any injury involving a school is complicated and has special laws associated with it that are designed to protect the government from liability. Because of this, it is never advisable to pursue a case against a school without professional legal help.
Legal Options for School Bus Injuries in Texas
Multiple parties could be responsible for a school bus injury, including:
- The bus driver,
- The bus company,
- The school/school district,
- Another driver,
- Another driver’s employer,
- A bus manufacturing or maintenance company.
If the negligence of any of the above parties contributed to your child’s school bus injury, you may be able to file a claim. Filing a claim against a school or its employees is difficult, and if multiple parties are involved, it complicates matters further.
Fortunately, you have the right to talk to an attorney about your case.
Was Your Child Injured on a Texas School Bus? Call Shaw.
If your child was hurt on a school bus, you could be entitled to compensation for things like:
- Ambulance Costs,
- ER Treatment,
- Medical Bills,
- Pain and Suffering,
- Trauma/PTSD,
- Disability,
- Wrongful Death,
- And More.
We’ll help you find out if you have a case for free.
Call Shaw at 800-862-1260 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation about your case. We’re a trusted name in San Antonio because we put our clients first. We look forward to serving you.
Contacting a Carabin Shaw attorney is free and does not obligate you to work with the firm.
³TxDOT Back to School Safety Campaign