School buses seem safe until you think about them carefully. Almost every vehicle on the road has seat belts, except for the cheery, yellow school bus. Instead, children sit two or three to a bench seat, and everything is fine until the bus makes a sudden stop. When the bus stops to let the students get out at their stop, it displays its stop signs to stop traffic in both directions. This is enough to keep the students safe while they cross the street in front of the bus, but once they get to the other side, all bets are off. Then, they must face the other dangers of being a pedestrian in Louisiana, where most roads do not have sidewalks. At least, it is supposed to be safe for a student to cross the street in front of a school bus, but at the beginning of the current school year in Terrebonne Parish, the unthinkable happened. If you have been injured in an accident involving a school bus in Louisiana, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.
Terrebonne Parish Child Dies After Being Struck by School Bus
In August, the memories of summer vacation are still fresh, and most children’s biggest disappointment, but a school community in Montegut will remember 2024-2025 as a year that began with a disaster. A school bus on its afternoon route dropped off Jeremiah Falgout at his stop on LA-665. For some reason, as Jeremiah crossed the street in front of the bus, the bus started moving and struck him. He was transported to the hospital, but he died later that day. He was seven years old.
Who is Legally Responsible for School Bus Accidents?
The accident that caused the untimely death of Jeremiah Falgout was almost unthinkably preventable; even in a dystopian fiction, it would be shocking for a bus driver to let his or her foot off the brake when a child was crossing the street in front of the bus. The accident is obviously a case of negligence on the part of the school district that hired the bus driver.
Most school bus accidents are not “never events” like this one but rather routine traffic collisions. A school bus is just another motor vehicle, and a school bus driver is just another motorist. The fault may belong to the bus driver or to the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident, or it could be divided between both. The parents of students injured in a school bus accident may file claims with the school district or with the insurance company of the at-fault driver. They may seek compensation for their accident-related financial losses, such as the child’s past and future accident-related medical bills.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Car Accident Cases
A car accident lawyer can help you if you are injured in a traffic accident involving a school bus. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.
Sources: