Atlanta Bus Accident Kills 6, Injures 29
Posted by
Craig CherryMarch 03, 2007 6:30 AMA motorcoach charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Ohio drove off an overpass in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday killing six and injuring twenty-nine others. Many of the passengers are believed to have been fully or partially ejected from the bus.
Of the six bus passengers killed, four were students from Bluffton University. The bus driver and his wife were also killed. Twenty-eight players were injured, as well as, their coach. Of the players that were injured, six were listed in critical condition.
The team from Bluffton University was on its way for its annual spring trip to Florida when the crash occurred just before dawn. While it was still dark outside at the time of the crash, the weather was clear.
A team from the National Transportation Safety Board was called out to the scene to investigate the bus crash. A spokesperson for the NTSB said they expect to release their findings into the cause of the crash within the year.
It is believed none of the players or coaches were wearing seat belts because motorcoach buses typically do not have passenger seat belts since the federal government currently does not require them for passengers.
This is yet another unfortunate example of why the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration needs to require motorcoach bus manufacturers to provide seat belts for passengers. I was co-lead counsel in what is believed to be the first jury trial to go to verdict against a motorcoach bus manufacturer. In that case, several motorcoach bus passengers were ejected and killed after the bus rolled over onto its side during a collision. We believed that had the bus had seat belts, none of the passengers would have been injured, much less killed. In October 2005, a McLennan County, Texas jury agreed with us an awarded our clients $17.5 million dollars after finding the motorcoach bus at issue defective for not providing passengers seat belts or using laminated safety glass in the side windows of the bus.