Cleveland Bus Accident Injures Six People

Six people suffered injuries in a recent Cleveland bus accident. Although serious crashes on public transit are rare, they can be quite serious in nature.

A recent Cleveland Regional Transit Authority bus accident resulted in six injuries, according to Fox 8. The bus was reportedly on the east side of the city when a passenger vehicle made a left turn in front of it. The six injured passengers were transported to two local hospitals and clinics.

These accidents happen periodically on RTA vehicles, although they rarely result in fatalities. In August 2014, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on an accident in which four people experienced significant injuries.

Despite these accidents, the Cleveland RTA has celebrated some safety milestones recently, with 20 of its drivers receiving an honor in May 2014 for compiling 465 years of operating transit vehicles without an accident. In fact, the RTA recognized one of the honorees for serving the RTA as a driver for 30 years with no recorded crashes.

National bus accident statistics

Bus accidents nationwide are actually somewhat rare, with a recently published study in Research in Transportation Economics reporting that vehicles carrying 10 or more people represented about 0.1 percent of the total traffic fatalities across the United States. In all, there are roughly 40 passenger deaths in auto accidents involving these types of vehicles per year, with about a quarter of the fatalities being bus drivers or bus company employees.

Additionally, the study found that about 44 percent of bus accident deaths were associated with chartered vehicles, while school buses, urban transportation and private shuttles accounted for the rest. It’s important to note, however, that these statistics do not account for fatalities related to crime on buses, a problem area for many communities with public transit.

Another study from the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan, looking at data from 1999 to 2005, found that there are about 63,000 bus accidents nationwide per year, with about 14,000 injuries and 325 fatalities total (including drivers and passengers of other vehicles). The study also noted that buses traveling from city to city are nearly twice as likely to be involved in a crash than urban transit vehicles like RTA buses.

Although these numbers indicate that bus travel might be safer than other types of motor vehicles, a 2012 study in the Journal of Safety Research found that while bus crashes comprise a smaller percentage of auto accidents overall, the number of accidents per million passenger miles traveled are roughly the same. Interestingly, the study also found that younger, inexperienced bus drivers are the most likely to be involved in a crash, and drivers over the age of 65 also had higher accident rates.

If you or someone close to you has been injured or killed in a bus accident, whether it was an RTA vehicle or another form of mass transit, it’s important to secure sound legal counsel as you determine your best action moving forward. To learn more about your options, speak with a knowledgeable Cleveland personal injury attorney.

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