Gaston Accident Involving School Bus Results in Injuries

As parents, we can’t be around our kids all the time to make sure that they are safe. They probably wouldn’t like that anyway. We trust that school bus drivers will do everything possible to ensure our children are transported safety to and from school and other school-related events. But even the most experienced school bus driver cannot do much to prevent an accident involving a reckless truck driver.

You probably heard about the recent bus accident in Oregon that involved a semi-truck on Highway 47. As reported by OregonLive.com, a tractor-trailer rig struck a school bus when coming around a curve. The school bus had its warning lights on since it was picking up students. An Oregon State Police sergeant stated that the semi-truck driver, George W. Clarno Jr., 57, put on his brakes to avoid striking the school bus, but the trailer fish-tailed across the road, went into a ditch, then collided with the front of the bus.

As a result of the bus and truck collision, the school bus driver, Sharon Bregante-Candau, 43, two high school students, and seven elementary school students went to the hospital to receive treatment for minor injuries. The accident occurred at a bus stop where several students are picked up every day and parents wait with their kids. A parent who saw the crash stated that some students had bloody noses, cut lips, and many others described symptoms of neck pain.

One witness to the accident said that it seemed as though the truck was going too fast around the bend of the road. Another local citizen mentioned that this accident was the fourth collision involving a semi within that area of the highway in a year’s time. With that in mind, it’s possible that officials may consider adding flashing lights to caution drivers of the bus stop.

It is shocking to imagine that since 1998, there have been 414,399 fatal motor vehicle accidents and of those crashes, 1,409 were designated as school transportation-related. (NHTSA: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811165.PDF

As Portland truck accident lawyers, we have seen the suffering and serious injuries that accident victims struggle with. These hardships should not prevent someone from seeking the compensation that they deserve To learn more about your legal rights, give us a call at (503) 222-4411.