If you live in Chicago or the Chicago suburbs, chances are that you regularly take, or have previously taken public transportation. You may or may not have taken a Chicago Pace Bus. Buses are a wonderful mode transportation because someone else does the driving while you are able to read a book, play with your phone, or just space out. However, although the licensure requirements for bus drivers are much more stringent than those required to get your driver’s license for an average person under Illinois law, accidents involving buses unfortunately still do occur on Chicago’s roadways. These collisions can often have devastating consequences, as buses are extremely large vehicles that weigh substantially more than the average passenger vehicle being driven by most motorists.
Bus accidents can be particularly devastating to a regular motorist’s vehicle as well as to the motorist and any passenger(s) in the vehicle. Buses are much larger than virtually any other vehicle on the road, with the absence of 18 wheeler semi-trailers, and they can do serious damage to a regular automobile if the two are involved in an accident. This can result in substantial damage to the vehicle involved, but can, unfortunately, result in death or substantial injuries to the occupants of the vehicle. In addition, the occupants of the bus could also be injured in such a collision. It often happens that passengers riding in a bus can be injured and need to seek medical treatment if the bus is involved in a collision.
Several recent collisions involving Pace buses demonstrate how dangerous these accidents can be even if the bus driver is not at fault. For example, in January of this year, a child was left in critical condition after being struck by a Pace bus in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Woodstock, Illinois. According to a WGN news report, the child had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital.
In March of 2013, a passenger in a Pace bus was killed when the Pace bus she was traveling in struck a pole in the Fuller Park neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. According to a news report describing the incident, a pedestrian ran into traffic, which caused the bus driver to swerve and hit a light pole. The incident resulted in severe damage to the bus as well as the death of a bus passenger.
In another incident in February 2014, several bus passengers were hospitalized when a vehicle swerved into the lane a Pace bus was traveling in and hit the bus. The driver of the vehicle that hit the Pace bus, five Pace bus passengers as well as three pedestrians (two with serious injuries) were hospitalized as a result of the collision according to a WGN news report.
If you were involved in a bus accident involving a Pace bus in Chicago, no matter whether you were a bus passenger or a motorist who was hit by a Pace bus, contact the aggressive and experienced bus accident lawyers of Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. at (312) 236-2900. During our more than fifteen years representing victims of auto accidents and other types of injuries we have previously represented those who were unfortunate enough to be involved in collisions involving Chicago Pace buses.
When you’re fighting for maximum compensation, we know what it takes to get it.
