Just imagine sitting in your living room or lying down in your bedroom when a bus suddenly crashes through your house’s walls. Is your baby okay? Where is the dog? This is a terrifying situation because of both the surprise and the uncertainty involved.
The more complicated questions come later, however. What exactly happened and who do you hold accountable? This is where a helpful personal injury lawyer from Colley & Colley, LLP can come in and decipher the mounds of documents and evidence to find you the best compensation possible.
On October 31, 2016, a San Antonio city bus operated by VIA Metropolitan Transit was crossing an intersection when a black truck ran a stop sign, crashing into the front driver side of the bus. The impact diverted the still moving public transportation vehicle into the corner of someone’s house. The video that VIA released is dramatic, but this bizarre kind of accident is not the first of its kind.
In fact, there was another San Antonio bus that crashed into someone’s home on October 17. Buses crashed into houses on April 7 in Houston; April 11 in Hardin County, Kentucky; May 31 in Charlotte, North Carolina; and September 9 in St. Paul, Minnesota. These are only a few of the bus-into-house accidents from 2016, which are turning out to be unsettlingly familiar news stories.
This is a strangely common type of accident and is known as a “vehicle-into-building” crash. According to the Storefront Safety Council, an organization dedicated to ending vehicle-into-building crashes, around sixty vehicles crash into buildings every day, resulting in more than 3,600 injuries and almost 500 deaths per year.
What is worse is that many of these accidents, or at least the injuries caused by them, could have been mitigated or prevented entirely with some concrete barricades or heavy planters and lawn decorations.
Deciding who is liable after something like this is a complex issue to sort out. You may have to consider the driver, the school district, the bus company, the road conditions, the bus and parts manufacturers, any other drivers that crashed into the bus, and others you may not be able to think of yet.
In the meantime, your home is damaged and possibly not inhabitable and you are injured, cannot go to work, and may be running out of emergency funds quickly. You need to make certain that you can take care of yourself and your family—now and into the future. Holding the at-fault party accountable for damages, including lost income and medical bills, is important for both your family and the system as a whole.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident where a bus crashed into a house, you need to make sure that your injuries and future costs are compensated. Please contact a Texas traffic accident lawyer from Colley & Colley, LLP so we can begin building your case for you, thereby allowing you to recuperate and spend time with your family or get back to work.
Call us at 1-877-411-2001 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation, or you can fill out the form below to have an associate call you at a time that is more convenient.
15511 W Highway 71
Suite 110-142
Austin, TX 78738
(512) 477-2001
512-477-3335
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