While taking a bus to school is safer than walking or riding in a car, school bus stops also pose their own dangers. According to the Transportation Research Board, an average of 20 children die each year from school buses, with five fatalities occurring inside of the bus, five happening when children are struck by other vehicles and 10 occurring when children are struck by the bus itself. Another 6,000 are injured.
Causes of Accidents
Some accidents happen because drivers ignore school bus stop-arms, driving around the bus and striking children. Others happen when a bus driver fails to see a child and strikes them. Some happen when a child is getting on or off of the bus. Finally, some accidents happen because of poorly chosen bus stop locations. Poor locations may include those that are along roads with higher traffic speeds, next to roads with multiple lanes, near railroad tracks or in areas with poor visibility for both other drivers and children. A recent case in El Dorado County demonstrates the potential dangers of school bus stops for children.
A jury in Ventura, CA recently reached a verdict about a DUI crash that occurred almost three years ago. The case involved a man named Francisco A. Briones, and the claim was against Christopher Lee Zink. The victim was only 21 years old at the time of the accident and had his entire life ahead of him. The accident occurred at 5:00 a.m. when Briones was driving to work at a nearby warehouse. He was in his parent’s uninsured vehicle at the time.
A San Diego jury awarded a plaintiff $1.5 million on Feb. 5, holding that On The Border, a Mexican chain restaurant, was liable for one of its 
Let’s say you are in your vehicle headed to the grocery store and waiting at a stop light. You look up in your review mirror and see a truck twice the size of your hatchback barreling towards you. The driver is looking down at a cell phone, and he’s not slowing down. He rear-ends your car. You’re injured, and now you have medical bills and missed time from work.
A recent case in Santa Clara County in which a plaintiff motorcyclist sued a motor vehicle driver for negligence in a motorcycle and car accident case resulted in a verdict of nearly $1.2 million for the plaintiff. The defendant driver had claimed the motorcyclist was negligent and thus at least partly liable for the accident.
Los Angeles bicycle accidents are, unfortunately, on the rise especially in certain parts of L.A. Bicycles have increasingly become popular again as more people move into the larger city areas. The need for transportation in these areas is always in high demand, and own and operating a car is not always practical for city life. Public transportation is not always reliable or available and some people just prefer not to ride a bus or train.
On October 20, 2011, a young California man, who was employed as a union carpenter for Ghilotti Construction, fell and injured his back while working on a bridge. The incident occurred as the result of a piece of uncapped rebar snagging the worker’s pant leg and causing him to fall. He was wearing a 50 pound utility belt at the time of the fall, and his leg remained about two feet in the air, both of which exacerbated the injury he sustained.
The Government Accountability Office released data that showed that pedestrian fatalities increased by 3 percent – from 11 percent to 14 percent – between 2004 and 2013. During the same time frame, the numbers increased from 1.7 percent to 2.2 percent for cyclists. However, overall traffic deaths dropped by about 25 percent – from 43,000 to 33,000 – during that period.
Orange County, CA has experienced a surge in bicycle and pedestrian accidents resulting in injury or death in the past few years. Pedestrian and bicycle incidents are occurring more frequently as each day passes. In fact, by some estimates, a pedestrian is struck and killed in the O.C.