Maryland Accident Law Blog

In Maryland, the driver of a school bus and three to five middle school student passengers were injured this morning after the bus they were riding in flipped over in Riverdale in Prince George’s County.

There were 45 passengers on the bus that was headed for William Wirt Middle School. All of the students that were in the bus at the time of the accident were transported to local hospitals for medical evaluation.

The bus driver will be charged with failure to yield right of way. It is believed that the driver tried to turn left too quickly.

School buses in Maryland are not required to provide seatbelts to passengers. Different types of injuries can occur during a bus rollover accident:

A 90-degree rollover: A bus passenger can end up slamming against a bus wall, a seatmate, a window, or their backpack or bag.

A 180-degree roller: Students can fall headfirst into the ceiling or be struck by falling objects that were not securely stored. Students may slip and fall into each other and sustain further injuries. Students may have to crawl over unconscious or seriously injured students to exit through windows.

In Maryland and Washington D.C., our personal injury law firm represents injured school bus passengers and their families in bus accident claims and lawsuits against the negligent parties. We also handle all kinds of injury cases involving injured minors.

An article, called The Severity of Bus Rollover Accidents found on the NHTSA web site, categorizes rollovers into the following groups:

• Turn on side
• Turn into a ditch
• Rollover from the road
• Serious rollover- involves more than two rotations
• Combined rollover- may involve a fire, a severe frontal collision, or the bus falling into a body of water

Overturned School Bus Sends Students, Driver to Hospitals, Washington Post, February 27, 2008

The Severity of Bus Rollover Accidents, NHTSA (PDF)

Related Web Resources:

School Bus Accident Reconstruction

Secretary Peters Catches Bus to School, Proposes New Safety Rules for School Buses, NHTSA.gov, November 19, 2007